Monday 25 January 2010
RUDD COPIES NSW LABOR: THE OUTCOME WILL BE THE SAME IF HE CONTINUES
Kevin Rudd’s dire musings on health funding sounds like the familiar Labor rhetoric the failed State Government has been using for years in NSW, and does nothing to solve the problems plaguing our health system, Deputy NSW Opposition Leader and Shadow Minister for Health Jillian Skinner said today.
“After going out of his way to avoid NSW Labor politicians, Kevin Rudd has now copied their lines, it is an ominous sign he will follow their example and do nothing to reform the health system,” Mrs Skinner said.
“Making dire predictions about how much of the budget the health portfolio will consume does nothing to improve outcomes for patients, or hasten the reform our health system so desperately requires – it’s just another Labor delaying tactic,” she said.
Kevin Rudd is simply using the same lines used in NSW by the likes of Morris Iemma, John Hatzistergos, Reba Meagher and Eric Roozendaal:
Morris Iemma: “If the average increase in health spending of 7 per cent over the past five years continued, then by 2033 health would consume the entire NSW budget.”
(2 June 2006, The Australian)
John Hatzistergos: “If health expenditure continues to grow at its current rate, health spending will consume the entire NSW budget by 2033, NSW Health Minister Mr John Hatzistergos has warned.” (8 June 2006, Australian Doctor)
Reba Meagher: “At a health congress in Sydney this morning, Ms Meagher said health would consume the state’s entire budget by 2036 unless urgent steps were taken.”
(27 February 2008, ABC News Online)
Eric Roozendaal: “At this rate, funding for health will consume the entire State budget by 2033. (11 November 2008, Mini Budget Speech)
“Unlike Labor, the NSW Liberals & Nationals will take action on health reform and overhaul the health management system. Patients will come first, not bureaucratic empires.
“A NSW Liberals & Nationals Government will remove Labor’s huge, centralised and failed Area Health Services and replace them with smaller Health Districts, each with their own board made up of local community members and clinicians from local health facilities,” Mrs Skinner said.
View the full ‘Making it Work’ health policy at www.jillianskinner.com.au