Evidence at Senate Estimates today has amplified the questions around the Government’s secret hospital taskforce, with Departmental officials admitting the taskforce proposal was discussed only two weeks ago.
The Government has been methodically working up a drastic proposal which would cut public hospital funding and abolish the private health insurance rebate. This proposal was canvassed as part of the Abbott Government’s Federation White Paper – so it hasn’t come out of nowhere.
The Turnbull Government can’t wash their hands of this when their fingerprints are all over it.
The Government’s desperate attempts to distract from their plans can’t mask the many unanswered questions which remain:
- Why didn’t the Government instruct the Department to stop work on the proposal?
- Why was it discussed on March 28?
- Why was it discussed at a separate meeting only two weeks ago?
- Why did it continue at all after the Federation White Paper process was abandoned entirely?
- Why did the Deputy Secretary of the Department give a full presentation of the proposal to the taskforce?
The Government’s most senior health bureaucrats have admitted to being actively involved in working up options for years to attack the fabric of our universal health care system.
Malcolm Turnbull can’t be trusted with a word he says on health – his Government’s denial of knowledge about this plan stinks as much as their continued cuts to Medicare.
MONDAY, 29 MAY 2017