Hands off Queensland Hospitals

The Federal Government’s proposal to back out of its responsibilities to fund public hospitals would rip over a third of public hospital funding out of the Queensland system.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said that the Abbott Government seemed determined to turn Australia’s system of Federation upside down.

“This is an ideologically-driven Federal Government which is upturning Australia’s whole system of Federation, something they have no mandate at all to do,” she said.

“Tony Abbott came to power promising no cuts and now he is arguing for no funding. It just does not add up.”

Health Minister Cameron Dick said that if the Commonwealth acted on this recommendation then Queensland would be at least $3.6 billion worse off in 2017‑18.

“We already have a situation where Queensland will be $11.8 billion worse off over the next decade because Tony Abbott changed the way the health system is funded.

“But now he’s proposing to vacate the field altogether.

“No-one should underestimate the impact that a cut of this size would have on our health system.

“The reality is that the current health system would not be sustainable if you suddenly rip $3.6 billion each year out of it.

“You just can’t trust Tony Abbott to do the right thing by Queensland’s hospitals.

“While he is Prime Minister, public health care in Australia is not safe.”

Mr Dick said that the bipartisan National Health Reform Agreement meant funding certainty for the States and Territories and had delivered better results across the health system, including dental care and surgical waiting times.

“This is a system which is delivering real results for Queenslanders and it’s that increase of federal money into the system which has cut back waiting times in Queensland hospitals.

“If the Federal Government was serious about reform, they’d include a reformed National Health Reform Agreement in their options paper.”

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Andrew Fraser 0428 690 679