THE HON TANYA PLIBERSEK MP
DEPUTY LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION
SHADOW MINISTER FOR EDUCATION AND TRAINING
SHADOW MINISTER FOR WOMEN
MEMBER FOR SYDNEY
THE HON CATHERINE KING MP
SHADOW MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND MEDICARE
MEMBER FOR BALLARAT
Malcolm Turnbull faces a key test in next month’s Budget – to reverse his cuts to hospitals around Australia, including the $14 million cut to Box Hill and other Eastern Health hospitals in Melbourne.
Mr Turnbull is cutting $715 million from Australia’s public hospitals between 2017 and 2020 – including $14 million from Eastern Health.
The cut to Eastern Health alone is equivalent to:
– 21,000 emergency department visits; or
– 4,000 cataract surgeries; or
– Over 500 knee replacements; or
– 33,990 outpatient appointments.
Doctors, nurses and other hospital staff in Eastern Health are already overstretched – and Malcolm Turnbull’s cuts will only make things worse.
Mr Turnbull is prepared to give big business a $65 billion tax handout but he can’t even find a fraction of that money to properly fund Australia’s hospitals. That says everything about his priorities.
The question for Malcolm Turnbull now is: will he do the right thing in next month’s Budget and reverse these cruel hospital cuts?
The $14 million cut to Eastern Health is part of a $183 million cut to hospitals across Victoria.
In 2016-17, Victoria’s emergency departments saw a record number of people, with 1.73 million presentations. The last thing the state’s hospitals need is a funding cut.
Australians don’t go to our public hospitals because they want something to do – they go because they desperately need health care to get back on their feet.
They’re people waiting for hip surgery, knee replacements, and dealing with life-threatening health issues.
Every dollar cut from our public hospitals is a dollar cut from our sickest and most vulnerable patients.
Access to health care should be determined by your Medicare card – not your credit card.
Mr Turnbull must reverse his hospital cuts in next month’s Budget.
THURSDAY, 26 APRIL 2018