Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Sydney's health system is under real pressure. At Westmead Hospital in Sydney, two-thirds of intensive care beds are occupied by COVID-positive patients, and patients are being sent to other hospitals to free up space. There's ramping of ambulances with patients, which have been waiting to get into Westmead and Nepean hospitals. Now, what extra resources, will the federal government allocate to New South Wales to ensure that its health system is not overwhelmed?

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will ask the minister for health, who may wish to add to this answer. Over the course of this pandemic, the federal government has committed and provided some $27 billion in direct health support right across this country to support the very types of measures and challenges that the member refers to. Right from the start we entered into a fifty-fifty, dollar-for-dollar arrangement to support the costs that were being borne by states and territories because of the additional COVID-related pressures that they were facing in providing COVID-related medical support through their hospital systems.

That is not the normal deal. The normal deal is 45-55—with 55 done by the states. It's a longstanding arrangement. We made that dollar for dollar because we knew that we would have to walk each step of the way with the states and territories when it came to backing them in on the medical and health support that they would need to provide during this pandemic. I send a big shout-out to all those nurses, to all those doctors and to all those paramedics and ambulance workers. I know a bit about that: my brother is one of them. They're doing an amazing job with great sacrifice and under intense pressure. They're often prevented from being with their families because of the nature of the work that they're doing. We are backing them in, and we've been backing them in each and every day of the pandemic. And it's not just health workers; it's not just the hospitals. We've been backing in the men and women who are unable to get work during the course of this pandemic. Some $4 billion worth of COVID disaster payments are being made even now in the course of these most recent lockdowns to provide them with the help and the support that they need.

Every single week, as has been done now for many months, the Department of Health led by the secretary, Professor Murphy, working with the states and territories, makes a full assessment of the pressures across the public health systems of all the states and territories, and that report is provided to the national cabinet. At our most recent meeting, it was a topic of real discussion, as it should be. We discussed the various contingencies we would have to put in place with movement of workforces. One of the most inspiring things I've seen over the course of this last 18 months as we've worked together as a team of premiers, chief ministers and myself, is ensuring that we respond to each other's needs. So there are Western Australian contact tracers working on the outbreak in New South Wales, and contact tracers from Tasmania are supporting other states, just as New South Wales, with its world-class systems, was supporting other states when they were in difficulty.

There isn't time for the health minister to add to this answer, but the government is standing with the states and territories to help them address this very real burden, but we must proceed with the plan. (Time expired)