Nicola Roxon Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Health and Ageing
10:01 am
I wish to make a personal explanation.
Harry Jenkins Speaker
Does the honourable member claim to have been misrepresented?
Nicola Roxon Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Health and Ageing
Yes.
Nicola Roxon Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Health and Ageing
I want to refer the House to a story titled 'Elderly blamed for long hospital waiting lists' in the 28 June 2011 edition of the Australian newspaper. The first sentence of the story states:
HEALTH Minister Nicola Roxon has blamed the increase in the number of older Australians for the failure of her reforms to cut hospital waiting lists …
This claim is completely fabricated. I never said such a thing, and this is particularly poor reporting. In fact, I itemised the way the government's reforms were delivering to the community, and I would like to refer people to the transcript of the press conference for an accurate version of what was said. I table that transcript.