An already under resourced Townsville Hospital faces a cut of $16.3 million over the next four years because of Tony Abbott’s health cuts.
In addition to ripping $16.3 million from Townsville General Hospital, residents in Herbert will be forced to pay more than $6 million per year as part of Tony Abbott’s plan to tax GP visits.
This is despite Tony Abbott promising before the election that there would be no cuts to health and no new taxes.
“When it comes to healthcare, Australians are being let down by the most uncompassionate government since Federation, led by the most ineffective health minister Australia has ever had,” Shadow Minister for Health Catherine King said.
The Member for Herbert has been embarrassingly silent on these cuts. In fact in parliament on 28 May he ‘congratulated’ the Minster for Health in the Abbott Government when he said “I pass on my personal congratulations on the great job he (Peter Dutton, Tony Abbott’s Health Minister) is doing in ensuring the sustainability of our health system in this country."
“These cuts are not about the sustainability of the health system. If they were the $6 million a year residents in Herbert are being asked to pay in GP Tax would be going back into Medicare, but it is not.”
“People in Townsville and across Queensland deserve a local member who is willing to stand up for their right to access good quality, affordable healthcare.”
Ms King also spent the morning with the CEOs and staff at the Townsville Mackay and Central and North West Queensland Medicare Locals.
These Medicare Locals are working across the region to improve after-hours access to GPs, mental health services and introduce localised programs to improve the health of all Queenslanders.
This work is under threat from Tony Abbott’s broken promise that he would not close any Medicare Locals.
On 28 August 2013 Tony Abbott said “we’re not shutting any Medicare Locals”.
[TONY ABBOTT – LEADERS’ DEBATE – 28 AUGUST 2013]
“Instead, Tony Abbott plans to close every Medicare Local in the country. This will jeopardise access to health services and put undue pressure on Queensland’s already struggling hospital system,” said Catherine King.
“And across the country Tony Abbott is cutting more than $50 billion out of Australia’s hospitals. That’s the equivalent of closing 1 in 13 beds, in addition to sacking 1 in 5 nurses and 1 in 3 doctors.”
Labor will stand up to Tony Abbott’s health cuts and his campaign to destroy Medicare.