Page 1533 - Week 05 - Thursday, 7 May 2015
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The states do not have the capacity to meet those health costs on their own. The commonwealth has a critical role to play.
They are not my words but the words of the New South Wales Liberal Premier, Mr Baird. He is very clear that the decision taken by the current federal Liberal government to rip health funding away from the states and territories is the critical issue and that the position adopted by the federal Liberal government is not sustainable.
We hear the discussion from Mr Hanson, once again being the apologist for Prime Minister Abbott and Treasurer Hockey, on cuts to health funding. He said, “Oh, this money was never in the budget.” He is wrong. He is absolutely wrong. The national partnership agreement on public hospitals has been cut, and money has been saved from the federal budget. It is in the federal budget documents. It is clear. The budget documents say:
The Government will achieve savings of $1.8 billion over four years from 2014-15 by ceasing the funding guarantees under the National Health Reform Agreement 2011, and revising Commonwealth Public Hospital funding arrangements from 1 July 2017.
Mr Hanson can say that the money was never there, but he had better tell the federal Treasury and Treasurer Hockey, because the federal budget documents state that the government will save $1.8 billion over four years by ceasing the funding guarantees previously set out in the national health reform agreement. The Liberal Party can say what they like, but they are simply being apologists for Prime Minister Abbott and Treasurer Hockey. The federal budget documents are clear—$1.8 billion saved by ceasing payments to the states for public hospital and health services.
We know that the magnitude of this grows. That is what Premier Baird is saying. Premier Baird knows the truth. Premier Baird is prepared to speak the truth and to call the federal government out and say that it is not sustainable.
As I said in question time, the cuts are in the order of $700 million over the next 10 years, starting in 2016-17. That is the order of magnitude of funding lost to the ACT’s health and hospital system that would otherwise have been available under the partnership agreement arrangements.
This is just false economy. Being a community that consistently places the healthcare system and access to quality health care as a priority makes good economic sense. A healthy community is a productive community. Cutting funds for hospital services and increasing the costs of community-based care reduce health outcomes for the community. They reduce individuals’ health outcomes and they negatively impact on our economy.
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