Federal Budget

Ms DIGANCE (Elder) (14:32): My question is to the Minister for Health. Can the minister inform the house about the effect of recent federal budget cuts on health in South Australia?

Mr Whetstone: Didn't you listen to the radio this morning?

The SPEAKER: Minister, be seated. The member for Chaffey is warned for the second time, and I should add that I should earlier have warned the member for Hartley for the first time and called the members for Stuart and Morphett to order. The Minister for Health.

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING (Playford—Minister for Health, Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Defence Industries, Minister for Health Industries) (14:32): I thank the member for Elder for her question. She was, of course, previously a nurse and would have enormous concerns about what these cuts might mean for South Australia. Last week I held an emergency meeting of the state's health leaders following the savage cuts to health announced in the federal budget. This meeting included peak bodies representing doctors, nurses, paramedics and health consumers.

We examined the impact of these cuts and discussed how the state's health system could be expected to do more with less. There was an urgent need to hold these crisis talks, because last week's federal budget slashed more than $600 million from the health budget over the next four years. In the 2017-18 financial year alone, the state will be $269 million worse off. That is the equivalent of closing nearly 600 hospital beds, the amount of beds we have at the Flinders Medical Centre.

Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey are ripping the heart out of our health system. They have reneged on the National Health Reform Agreement and reduced their fair share of funding to states' hospitals. They have also torn up several national partnership agreements.

The SPEAKER: Point of order from the member for Finniss.

Mr PENGILLY: I seek your clarification on whether the Minister for Health should refer to Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey or rather the Prime Minister and the Treasurer of Australia.

The SPEAKER: I will take advice about that. It seems vulgar, but go on.

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: That is their name, sir, and I thought the ruling applied to referring to other members of the house—

The SPEAKER: It does.

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: —in order to prevent quarrels from breaking out across the house.

The SPEAKER: The former speaker is correct.

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: They have also torn up several national partnership agreements—agreements that were designed to improve public hospital services to support long-stay older patients and Indigenous early childhood development. On top of that, the Abbott Liberal government's new $7 GP tax will drive more people away from their GPs and into the state's emergency departments, putting unprecedented strain on EDs and increasing waiting times.

By taxing Australians every time they visit their doctor, Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey—if that is okay with the member for Finniss; I don't want to upset him—are penalising the early interventions and treatments which produce better patient results. There is a risk that people with chronic illness may wait until their condition worsens to the point that they need to be admitted into an acute care bed; that would actually be more costly to our health budget, and it would certainly be worse for patients.

As Minister for Health, I will be engaging with doctors, nurses, paramedics and other health professionals—people who have helped to create our world-class health system—to help me respond to these savage cuts. This government has worked hard over the past 12 years to make South Australia's health system the best in the nation. We are determined to continue delivering the quality of care that people in this state deserve, but that job has been made much more difficult by this short-sighted decision from the federal government.

Liberal Party premiers chose to voice strong opposition to measures announced in last week's federal budget rather than feel they were obliged to defend their federal party colleagues. It is a pity, when given the chance to stand up for South Australians, those opposite would rather be mouthpieces for Tony Abbott.

Mr GARDNER: Point of order, sir.

The SPEAKER: Yes, I anticipate the point of order.

Mr GARDNER: No. 137, as well: he is refusing to accept your authority and your instructions, sir.

The SPEAKER: Yes, I think that is correct, and accordingly I call the Minister for Health to order.