Catryna Bilyk (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am always amazed when those on the other side bring up issues such as this when they have actually cut money out of the budget. We all know that they ripped $1 billion out of the health system. To me that is pretty uncaring, unkind and callous to the people of Australia. Of course that left a great big hole—didn’t it?—that is now down to Labor to fill.

Health is a critical issue to the Labor Party. We have long been working on a better deal for patients. That is our bottom line. We want a better deal for patients. Why do we want that? We want that because we care, because we have compassion and because, as I said, we want a better deal for patients all around. In fact a better deal for patients all around means a better deal for the whole of society. As I said, those on the other side cut $1 billion out of the health budget and I am always astounded that they actually have the gall to raise the issue.

This Labor government is delivering massive reforms. We have delivered the MyHospital website, we have increased hospital funding by 50 per cent and we have delivered 70,000 more elective surgery operations. On top of that we have agreed to new boundaries for local hospital networks. I heard Senator Cormann, I think—although I will stand corrected as it may have been a previous speaker—objecting to that but in my home state of Tasmania the people seem very happy with what has happened and with how it is progressing. Nobody, in fact, has spoken to me in any negative way about it.

We have also given nurses and midwives access to Medicare and the PBS. I think it was Senator Feeney who mentioned that we have lifted the Leader of the Opposition’s old cap on GP training places and we are undertaking proper national planning for our health workforce. Having spent some time, previously, in the health workforce, I know that that action is greatly appreciated by people within the workforce. The Labor government are giving states incentives to reduce hospital times and, of course, we are always trying to improve elective surgery and emergency department waiting times.

We all know that Mr Abbott’s legacy of ripping $1 billion out of the hospitals, capping GP training places and leaving a shortfall of nurses has had a negative impact on the whole of the health area. It has resulted in workloads for the staff across the board, from nurses aids to doctors, being greater. Once again we see the opposition come into this chamber—in fact nearly every time I am in here—and carry on about how much money they think they have saved. But what they do not say is that they only saved money by not spending it or by cutting programs. By doing that they did a disservice to the people of Australia. They did not make life easier for people. They did not make life easier for any of the workforce in the hospitals by cutting $1 billion out of the health budget. Of course the opposition would have increased the cost of drugs by cutting the PBS and, once again, that would not have helped the people of Australia in any way, shape or form if it had happened.

We have always made it clear that we will not be signing any blank cheques, but health reform is an important part of what we have to do. We have taken that challenge on. Health is never easy. Having previously worked for a state government health minister, I understand the intricacies of trying to balance the health budget. It is never an easy budget to deal with. But we are dealing with human lives and with humans in some ways in a more important way than in some of the other areas. So it really is important that we get it right and that we fill the deficit that was left by those on the other side when they were in power in taking that money away. We help Australians get medical treatment when and where they need it with after hours GP services, GP superclinics. There are a few great new superclinics either already working or underway in my home state of Tasmania. The people of Tasmania greatly appreciate that those have been put there.