Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I felt moved to speak in the chamber today about health in general and developments in health in my home state of Tasmania in particular. Health is an important issue for many Tasmanians, and in recent times, with issues such as the election driven takeover of the Mersey hospital by the previous government, as well as the assorted problems with regard to funding, it is more important than ever. Tasmanians have the highest incidence of heart disease and diabetes in Australia, so proper funding of health is a priority.

The health system in Tasmania did struggle for funding under the previous Liberal Howard government for many reasons. The coalition knows full well that the previous government ripped $1 billion out of the public hospital system—$1 billion! But we have Senator Barnett coming in here and attacking us over health—dropping bombs and trying to take the populist line in his home state of Tasmania—when in fact the coalition had 11½ very long years to do something about this and set the long-term agenda for resolving some of the health issues that we are facing in this country. It is quite unbelievable that they come into this chamber and lecture us regularly.

The Rudd Labor government is working towards achieving better outcomes for Australians. We are about stopping the blame game and seeking those long-term solutions that Australian families deserve.