Michelle Rowland (Greenway, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Health and Ageing. What progress has been made in implementing the government's national health reforms? What obstacles have there been to reform and what is the government's response?

Nicola Roxon (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Health and Ageing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Greenway for her question. I was delighted to be able to visit her, the member for Lindsay and the member for Reid last week to have a look at how health reform is already delivering to Western Sydney. Of course, the national health reforms that are being implemented, as the Prime Minister mentioned, are turning into very real services right across the country. In Western Sydney our health reforms will deliver an extra 232 beds, and 150 of those are already open. So I was able to visit, with the member for Greenway, Blacktown Hospital. They are going to have 48 extra beds—18 of those are already open and providing services to the local community. I went with the member for Lindsay to Nepean Hospital, where the $96 million investment means that the new ICU has opened this week and 26 of the 36 new beds are already open, providing services to that fast-growing community.

Of course, we are also increasing transparency, as the Prime Minister mentioned, for the performance of our hospitals—a measure that the opposition voted against yesterday in this House. From October this year for the first time the MyHospitals website will report infection rates at hospitals across the country. And yesterday we passed through this House legislation for the first national performance authority on health to be established. It will report not just on hospital services but also on services in both public and private hospitals and in Medicare Locals.

From all of this it is clear to Australians across the country what Labor is delivering in terms of health reform. It is clear when you look at our history what we believe about health—in terms of investing in Medicare, being the creators of Medicare and the creators of the PBS and now introducing these health reforms—but it is very hard to understand where it is that the Liberal Party stand on health reforms. They opposed the performance bill yesterday. They have not released any policies at all, and the Leader of the Opposition—

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The minister has the call.

Nicola Roxon (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Health and Ageing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Leader of the Opposition did give us a little bit of a clue about the approach that he might take if he were ever to hold the office of Prime Minister. He said last night to the AMA: 'You all know what I was like as health minister. That's what I'll be like as the Prime Minister.' So let's just have a look at what that means.

Opposition members interjecting—

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order, those on my left! The minister has the call.

Nicola Roxon (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Health and Ageing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It may be that those opposite do not want to remember what the Leader of the Opposition was like as the health minister, but the public will. They remember a billion dollars coming out of our hospitals. They remember a cap on GP training places. They remember that six out of 10 Australians could not access a GP easily when they needed one. They remember him, when he was the health minister, insulting a man dying of asbestosis. They remember what he was like, and that is what he would be like as the Prime Minister, if ever he got the chance.

If the Leader of the Opposition wants to say, 'That's what I'll be like,' where are the next set of health cuts coming from if he gets into government? We are clear where we stand on health. Where does the Leader of the Opposition stand on health?