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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, First Session (53-1)
2014-05-20 Daily Xml
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Health Funding

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) (15:20): Over the last week, members of the Liberal Party in this house have been given a chance to show the public that they are on their side, and that they would stand up for the people of this state. After the historic betrayal delivered to all Australians by Joe Hockey—a betrayal which is designed to rip the heart out of our public hospitals—it was time to put political allegiance aside and fight for all South Australians. Instead, they validated everything we said about them before the state election.

Last year, they feigned outrage when I said in this house that they hated hospitals because they whined and moaned any time I talked about the Royal Adelaide Hospital or any hospital development, but I am standing by my statement: they do hate hospitals. If they cared about public health in SA, they would be genuinely opposing their federal colleagues' savage health cuts—

Mr TARZIA: Point of order, Deputy Speaker: it appears to be a breach of standing order No. 127(3): the member is making a personal reflection on the other members in calling us 'hospital haters'.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: I think, as the Clerk says, it is a collective reflection, and I ask the minister to continue.

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: These cuts would be absolutely crippling. Over the next four years, the commonwealth will withdraw more than $440 million from the National Health Reform Agreement. The commonwealth provides around a third of the money in funding for our public hospitals; that share will now decline, and as a result, last week's horrific budget threatens everything we have achieved in delivering the world-class health system that South Australians rightly expect—a system in which waiting times in our emergency departments are among the nation's best, and a system which, for the first time ever, ensured there were no overdue patients waiting for elective surgery at the end of 2013.

Joe Hockey is also cutting more than $160 million from COAG agreements over the next four years, and most of that money was dedicated to improving public hospitals. The cuts to health in South Australia just in the 2017-18 year alone are the equivalent of nearly 600 hospital beds; that is how many beds there are at the Flinders Medical Centre, the state's second-largest hospital.

Similar cuts have been made interstate. Denis Napthine, the Liberal Party Premier of Victoria, described the federal budget as a 'severe blow'. Mike Baird, the Liberal Party Premier of New South Wales, said it was 'a kick in the guts' for his state. Campbell Newman, the Liberal National Party Premier of Queensland, described the cuts as 'unfair and unreasonable' and called for an emergency meeting of the states.

So, what do we hear from the leader of the South Australian Liberals? An accusation that we were running a 'fear and smear campaign'. That's right; even though the ink has dried on the federal budget papers and they show in black and white that billions will be ripped out of the health system for the states, even though Liberal premiers interstate are fighting against these cuts, and even though leading doctors and nurses are calling this a disaster, the member for Dunstan says it is all just a 'fear and smear campaign'.

Perhaps the member for Dunstan feels he cannot let down his mentor, the federal member for Sturt who, as we have recently seen, is also a great upholder of parliamentary standards, Madam Deputy Speaker.

Mr TARZIA: Point of order, Deputy Speaker: this is a personal reflection on the member for Dunstan and I ask that the comment be removed.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: No, we are prepared to let that go; there is no point of order.

The Hon. J.J. SNELLING: I can understand the member for Hartley being a little bit sensitive about any criticism of his great mentor, the member for Sturt, but, believe me, I will point out when he is having an undue influence in this place, when he is letting down the people of South Australia, and when the member for Dunstan (the leader of the Liberal Party) does not have the guts to stand up for the people of South Australia. Once again, he is letting the people of South Australia down. Once again, he is showing he would rather be a mouthpiece for Tony Abbott, Joe Hockey and Christopher Pyne, and that he will not fight for the people of our state.

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