LEAKED COAG DOCUMENT SHOWS TURNBULL TAKING HOSPITAL CUTS TO 2025
Malcolm Turnbull’s secret pre-budget hospital plan will lock in seven years of public hospital cuts – leaving patients languishing on waiting lists and Australia’s public hospitals underfunded.
Under Turnbull, the Commonwealth Government’s total health expenditure continues to reduce as a percentage of the total Commonwealth Budget – decreasing further than it was under Abbott.
Reports of a leaked COAG note reveal that the Liberals are seeking a five year deal while offering no new money for public hospitals. This would lock the states into current, inadequate funding arrangements until 2025.
The fact that Malcolm Turnbull doesn’t think our public hospitals deserve to be properly funded but he thinks big business deserves a tax cut says it all about his priorities.
This offer is an insult to the patients waiting in emergency departments and on elective surgery waiting lists. It’s an insult to our doctors and nurses trying to do the best they can with fewer resources.
The states, doctors and consumer groups have been pleading for Turnbull to put additional investment into public hospitals – this offer is proof the Liberals don’t listen and don’t care about health:
“The AMA calls on the Government to… lift public hospitals out of their current funding crisis, which is putting doctors and patients at risk.” [AMA 2018-19 BUDGET SUBMISSION]
Our public hospitals are in crisis – elective surgery and emergency department waiting times have blown out around Australia, with just three of 48 targets met in the Australian Medical Association’s latest Public Hospital Report Card.
Turnbull needs to get out of the boardrooms of big business, visit any public hospital emergency department and speak to the overworked health staff about why he thinks they don’t deserve a dollar more funding.
Cutting Medicare, cutting public hospitals and failing to stand up to the big profit health insurers – Turnbull can never be trusted on health.
WEDNESDAY, 7 FEBRUARY 2017