Nicola Roxon (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Health and Ageing) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Hindmarsh for his question. As he is the Chair of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Health and Ageing, which is currently undertaking an inquiry into obesity, I know that the work of that committee will feed into our reform strategy.

The Rudd government is committed to significant health reforms as a crucial step in rebuilding our health and hospital system. Frankly, after 12 years of neglect, there is a lot of rebuilding to be done; we have to reverse a lot of the inaction of the previous government. I am pleased to be able to inform the House that the foundations are being laid for that rebuilding. Late last year we had the $64 billion investment, through COAG, into health, including $750 million into emergency departments and more than $1 billion into training our health professionals. That is the biggest ever investment in prevention, and they have all been important components to rebuilding the system. That investment was a 50 per cent increase on what was planned by the previous government, had they negotiated the agreement.

Not only do we want to invest now in the sorts of things that will help rebuild our system, but we have also increased the reporting measures in COAG to ensure that the states are constantly improving. We know that the states need to improve the provisioning of their services. We have tied that extra funding to changes in the way that the states and territories behave. We have increased GP training places by 250 places, and they are available across the country. That is something that I know is very welcome at least on this side of the House and in the many communities who will receive more trainees in their area.

Last week another important step in our investments in health and in our health reform was taken. The National Health and Hospital Reform Commission released their interim report outlining over 100 potential future directions to be taken in health. Many of these directions are common sense. Some of them support existing government directions in health, like our investments in GP Superclinics, and some of these ideas are very ambitious. The opportunity is now there for the community to have a say and to provide feedback at this critical stage of the commission’s work. We asked the commission to think big, and I encourage the public, health professionals and service providers to provide their ideas and views at this important stage of the debate.

I note that the member for Dickson has admitted that the sluggish approach of the previous government was a problem—and I congratulate him for being prepared to do that. He said:

If we look at the history of health in this country we have to be honest and admit we have made mistakes … That is of course to state the obvious—

He went on to say:

For instance, in years past, despite some of the best intentions—

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