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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2018-05-08 Daily Xml
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National Health Reform Agreement

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY (15:29): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Health and Wellbeing a question regarding the national health agreement.

Leave granted.

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: The national health agreement was considered by the COAG Health Council on 13 April 2018. It is understood that signing up to the national health agreement will result in South Australia's public hospitals being $1 billion worse off compared with the original agreement signed between South Australia and the commonwealth. My question to the minister is: did you receive any advice at all that signing up to the federal national health agreement would deliver a worse outcome for South Australia than the previously signed federal hospital funding agreement?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (15:30): I received a range of advice, both internally and externally. I will indicate that, as honourable members would have known, in the election campaign the ANMF suggested that we should not sign the agreement. But let's see who did sign the agreement: Western Australia, a Labor government; ACT, a Labor government; and New South Wales, Tasmania and South Australia have all signed up. That is five out of seven jurisdictions—

The Hon. I.K. Hunter: Did they get a cut?

The PRESIDENT: Order, Mr Hunter.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: —that have signed up to the national health—

The Hon. I.K. Hunter: You took a cut and they didn't.

The PRESIDENT: Order! The Hon. Mr Hunter, let the minister answer the question.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: Five jurisdictions, Liberal and Labor, that signed up to the National Health Reform Agreement. The 2016 agreement, which is where this 45 per cent commonwealth share was struck, I remind members, was before the last federal election. So, if the Labor Party jurisdictions felt that there was any prospect of a federal Labor government increasing that share from 45 to 50 per cent, they only had to go to the last election to see what Labor promised then. Labor did not promise to increase the 45 per cent share to 50 per cent.

By signing up to the agreement, I believe that we were getting the opportunity to be a participant around the table when the National Health Reform Agreement is negotiated. That is very important for the Marshall Liberal government because one of the national health priorities in that agreement is that we pursue preventative health, and that is one of the key planks of the Marshall Liberal government agenda in health.

In my view, and the view of the government, there was no prospect of the commonwealth changing its longstanding position, whether that was a Liberal government or a Labor government, because Labor did not promise it at the last federal election. We saw an important opportunity to be at the table when this agreement is being drafted, and we believe that being at the table will drive better health outcomes for South Australians.

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: Supplementary question—

The PRESIDENT: Time is complete, the Hon. Mr Wortley.

The Hon. R.P. Wortley: He didn't answer the question.

The PRESIDENT: You can take that up with him at the next question time. I call on the business of the day.

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