Dave Tollner (Solomon, Country Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is addressed to the Minister for Health and Ageing. Would the minister update the House on progress with radiation oncology initiatives that deliver better cancer treatment services to people in rural and regional Australia? Have there been any obstacles to these initiatives, and what is the government’s response?

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Solomon for his question, and I love the way he constantly fights for the people of his electorate to give them the health services they deserve. I can inform him that, since 2001, the Howard government has committed over $160 million to improving cancer services for people in country areas. So far, Toowoomba, Traralgon, Bendigo and Ballarat have new radiation oncology services and Geelong and Perth have expanded radiation oncology services, thanks to the policies of the Howard government.

I very much regret to inform the House that the development of radiation oncology services in Darwin, and also Lismore, shows the procrastination and the bureaucratic ineptitude which is all too typical of the state and territory Labor governments. The Northern Territory Labor government first promised to build a radiation oncology unit during the 2001 election campaign. That was a broken promise. They repeated that promise during the 2004 election campaign. That promise has only finally been delivered thanks to the very hard work of the member for Solomon and no less than $30 million from the Howard government. Sometimes you have to feel sorry for the member for Solomon. He has to do the work of the government in the Territory and the work of the Territory government in Darwin. He does not just have to deliver on our promises; he also has to make the promises of the Territory government come true.

The member for Page also has a very difficult job. In June 2004, the Howard government offered the New South Wales Labor government $8 million towards a radiation oncology unit at Lismore Base Hospital—a great promise to help the people of northern New South Wales. The New South Wales government promised faithfully, solemnly and in writing that construction would commence by the middle of this year. I regret to say that, because of the absolutely astonishing neglect by the New South Wales government, the earliest that Lismore can have this vital service is 2010. And that is only because of the Commonwealth government’s ‘use it or lose it’ ultimatum and because of constant pressure by the member for Page on this incompetent state Labor government.

There is a very clear message in this: if you cannot trust state Labor to deliver decent health services, you certainly cannot trust federal Labor, especially given that the Leader of the Opposition has form when it comes to health. He closed 2,200 public hospital beds in Queensland. He cannot decide whether he is an old-fashioned Christian socialist or a fiscal conservative. But I tell you what: the people of Queensland know what this guy is. That is why their name for him was Dr Death. Dr Death was what they called him. I wonder whether, in the absence of his henchmen, he will have the guts to stand up here and complain about his much loved nickname.