Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party, Minister for Regional Communications) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Polley, for your question. However, I'm going to have to completely reject the assumptions on which your question is based—the assumption that there are cuts to the Commonwealth government's investment, our ongoing increasing, record level of Commonwealth funding to every single state and every single territory, year on year. In fact, when I look at the figures, as far as the eye can see there's increasing funding. That's going to mean more doctors, more nurses, more services and more surgeries in public hospitals right across this nation. And that's a good story, because our world-class health system in this nation is underpinned by the partnership that exists between our Commonwealth health system and indeed our state governments.

But when we look at Labor and your phantom funding—I mean, really. Let's go to shadow minister King's tragedy of a press conference this morning. Whoever the reporter is, whoever it is out there, please make yourself known; some fantastic questions were asked, questions that the shadow minister did not have the answers to, questions about: how was Labor going to fund its phantom funding? But, again—like the Gonski promise, like the NDIS promise—nada, nothing.

I'm very happy to go to the Labor Party's most important policy document, and it's shadow minister King's 'National platform on health', 18 pages of some really interesting things around the health portfolio. Promoting wellness, preventing disease, some great initiatives—no dollars. When we go to public funding for hospitals—