MORRISON’S PLAN TO RIP MORE MONEY FROM PUBLIC HOSPITALS

Two weeks in the top job and Scott Morrison is already planning to rip hundreds of millions of dollars more out of Australia’s public hospitals.

 

Not content with cutting billions of dollars from public hospital budgets between now and 2025, the Liberals now want to retrospectively claw back funding for services already provided.

 

The Victoria Government estimates these new retrospective accounting changes could see more than $200 million slashed from that state’s hospitals alone.

 

States have delivered these services in good faith, consistent with rules agreed three years ago. To shift the goal posts now is unfair and unacceptable.

 

If Morrison thinks there are issues with the calculation of public hospital funding, he should work with the states and territories to fix them.

Instead, once again Scott Morrison is taking any opportunity he can to rip millions of dollars more out of Australia’s public hospitals. By contrast, Labor has promised to fully reverse the Liberals’ cuts to public hospitals through our $2.8 billion Better Hospitals Fund.

 

Our hospitals are already in crisis, with ballooning emergency department and elective surgery waiting lists – and these cuts will only make things worse. Doctors, nurses and patients will suffer.

 

Scott Morrison also interfered with the hospital funding model as Treasurer. He might be trying to remake his image as Prime Minister – but he’s up to the same old dirty tricks.

 

But ultimately it doesn’t matter if it’s Tony Abbott or Malcolm Turnbull or Scott Morrison or Peter Dutton in charge this week – health and hospital cuts are in the Liberal DNA.