Doorstop - Health on the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) agenda
Minister for Health and Ageing, Tony Abbott, attends a doorstop interview about health being placed on the COAG agenda.
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Previous Ministers25 June 2004
Doorstop - Health on the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) agenda
It's interesting that the Premiers have put health on the agenda at COAG today and I think that there are some questions that the Premiers need to answer. In particular, do the Premiers support calls for a National Health Reform Commission, do they support the pooling of health funds; if they do, what funds should be abolished and go into the pool; how big should the pool be; and what should the pool cover? These are the serious questions that the Premiers need to answer and Premier Bracks in particular needs to explain why he commissioned the Allen Consulting Group to prepare a major paper on a National Health Commission, exactly what will it do, how much did Premier Bracks spend on the Allen Group paper, does he support its recommendations and will he release the whole report?
Journalist:
Are you worried that health will get steamrollered by the whole water debate?
Tony Abbott:
Look, obviously, the water debate is incredibly important and the Federal Government has a very strong agenda where water is concerned but the Premiers wanted to put health on the agenda. That's good that they are interested in health but the Government has a very clear position on health - don't mess with Medicare. Labor, by contrast, keeps talking about reforming the health system and the Australian public are entitled to know exactly what changes they want to make. We have a very good health system. The Government believes in Medicare. It seems that Labor has fallen out of love with Medicare system and exactly what do they want to replace it with?
Journalist:
Are you expecting Mr Bracks to face questions from his fellow Labor Premiers about this consulting paper?
Tony Abbott:
Well, my understanding is that the state Labor governments have been discussing the Allen Consulting Group paper and many of them have enormous reservations about it. There is, as I understand it, a split between Victoria and South Australia on the one hand, and NSW and Queensland on the other hand. I think it is high time that Premier Bracks explained exactly why he commissioned the Allen Consulting Group paper, how much he paid for it and whether he supports the recommendations?
ENDS