Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Defence Industry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Hummingbird House is a critical organisation that delivers essential support to families in Queensland. It's Queensland's only children's hospice. It sits just outside my electorate of Petrie. It provides palliative care for sick and dying children up to the age of 21. It is currently running only eight inpatient beds. This essential service sees over 145 families a year facing the nightmare of losing a child.

The coalition have been backing Hummingbird House for almost a decade, since it was opened under the Abbott government. To see that this Labor government have decided not to commit funding in this year's budget handed down on Tuesday night is gut wrenching. The Prime Minister and the Treasurer can point fingers all they want about supposed funding cuts to essential programs, but right here on page 23 of this budget paper in my hand—Budget Paper No. 3—there is no funding in the forward estimates for Hummingbird House.

I don't think there's a person in this House that could argue that the service for Hummingbird House isn't essential. At a time when services should be increased, $800,000 is all they need to ensure that these services continue. The Prime Minister, the Treasurer, the member for Lilley, whose electorate this is in, have a lot of explaining to do about the pleas from Hummingbird House being ignored by Labor. I urgently call on the Labor government to immediately commit to securing the ongoing funding for Hummingbird House.