Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the senator for her question, which was one of the most rhetorical I have heard. She got a whole range of rhetorical phrases into one question—she did very well. Unfortunately, none of them actually went to representing the facts of the situation. The National Health and Hospitals Network will be funded nationally and run locally. The Commonwealth will fund 60 per cent of the efficient cost of hospital services. There will be a jointly governed National Health and Hospitals Network funding authority in each state and territory. This was agreed at COAG. These authorities will be funding warehouses through which both Commonwealth and state government funding will be paid directly to local hospital networks.

This means that for the first time funding from both levels of government will be used to pay for services directly and will not be paid from or administered by state treasuries or health departments. The original proposal would have still had state funding provided by state government bureaucracies without transparency. This new arrangement represents an unprecedented new level of transparency in health funding. Both state and Commonwealth funding for hospitals will flow automatically based on the number of services actually being delivered. There will not be the possibility for state government funding to be shuffled around in state budgets or skimmed for other purposes. The price for services will be determined by the independent hospital pricing authority, which will have Reserve Bank style independence from government. Each local hospital network will be funded for the services that it provides and the information on the funding provided will be transparent to communities. There will also be a national performance authority to monitor and report on the performance of local hospital networks, individual hospitals and Medicare locums.

As the senator quite rightly confirmed, when she asked for that information from this government we provided it in accordance with normal procedures, which is that questions are taken on notice. The answer was provided to the senator. That is open, transparent and in accordance with Senate procedures.