14 August 2009
Another of Kevin Rudd’s promises – to end the blame game in health – has been shredded.
After failing to ‘fix’ hospitals by mid-2009 as Mr Rudd promised, his Health Minister Nicola Roxon is now blaming the New South Wales Government for problems in hospitals.
As several thousand people protested yesterday against savage funding cuts to their local hospital in Cootamundra, Ms Roxon told Federal Parliament the cutbacks had nothing to do with the Rudd Government.
“The protest in Cootamundra has absolutely nothing to do with the Rudd Government,” Ms Roxon said.
Instead she blamed the funding cutbacks which will slash surgery at the hospital by more than half on an “area health service run by the New South Wales government”.
“That’s hardly an end to the blame-game as promised by Mr Rudd before the last election,” Shadow Minister for Health Peter Dutton said.
“And how does that fit with Mr Rudd’s promise to ‘fix’ hospitals. He didn’t say the NSW Government would fix the hospitals, he said he would. If funds are being cut to hospitals, it’s because Kevin Rudd has not fixed them.”
Mr Dutton said all the promises Mr Rudd had made on health were either being broken or ignored.
“The list of broken promises is long and getting longer by the day,” Mr Dutton said.
THE PROMISE THE REALITY
• Labor would ‘fix’ hospitals by mid-2009 BROKEN
• Labor would end the ‘blame game’ BROKEN
• The buck would stop with Mr Rudd BROKEN
• Private health insurance rebates would be safe BROKEN
• Extended Medicare Safety Net would be safe BROKEN