Federal Budget

The Hon. T.T. NGO (15:41): The Abbott government has broken its promise to the people of Australia, cutting billions of dollars in health grants to public hospitals. No Australian premier was warned about these cuts and now states all across Australia must find a way to pick up the pieces. One thing is clear: South Australia will be hit particularly hard.

The reneging of the National Health Reform Agreement and the axing of the national partnership agreement will cost South Australians approximately $600 million. The Nursing and Midwifery Federation state secretary Elizabeth Dabars said this about these cuts:

We are looking down the barrel of 500 nursing jobs to go which is basically the equivalent of closing down the Modbury Hospital. It is a complete disgrace.

These cuts also represent the equivalent of losing 600 hospital beds—the size of the Flinders Medical Centre. On the weekend I attended a function held by the Australian Medical Association where many doctors and healthcare professionals told me how horrified they were by the prospect of these cuts and assured me that the result will be absolutely dire across South Australian hospitals.

Changes to health funding in this country will leave South Australians worse off. These cuts are being proposed not just in South Australia but in other states around the country. Liberal premiers like Mike Baird and Denis Napthine have voiced their displeasure and even the Queensland Liberal Premier Campbell Newman, who is no stranger to aggressive cuts in public spending, thinks the Abbott government 'has gone too far'. Mr Newman, usually one of the most vocal supporters of the Abbott government, is now calling on the public to voice their disapproval of these cuts and to raise it with their local federal Coalition MPs.

I understand that concerned health groups are organising a rally to oppose this attack on public hospitals. I trust that many of those opposite, including the Hon. Robert Lucas, shadow health minister, will be there. The honourable member is very well respected in the community and I am sure one day he may be a health minister and will have to deal with this very issue; therefore he could be a valuable ally in standing up for this state. Now is not the time for party politics but for standing up for what is right for South Australia.