PM: It's great to be back at the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital in my hometown of Brisbane, it's good to be here with Arch Bevis, the local Member, as well as Nicola Roxon, the Health Minister.
This is an important reform for the nation's health and hospital system, and where the rubber hits the road is for hospitals like this one, the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital here in Queensland.
You see, a number of state governments will oppose this plan. A number of state health bureaucracies will oppose this plan. Mr Abbott opposes this plan. But Australia needs the future of our hospital system soundly funded for the future, and I intend to get on with the job.
Let's go to the example of the Royal Brisbane Hospital.
Royal Brisbane is a hospital which has, I'm advised, nearly 1,000 beds, and I've been speaking to a lot of folk this morning, and what they say is, they could deal with more. In the past, the Australian Government's relationship to the hospitals of Australia has been this. We've provided 35 per cent of the recurrent costs of hospitals. But you know something, we haven't provided anything, really, for the training and research function of hospitals, and we've not provided anything when it comes to the capital needs of hospitals, the equipment, the buildings.
How does this, therefore, change for the future? The Australian Government would take on the dominant share of the recurrent costs of hospitals like the Royal, the dominant share of the costs of the training and research function of these hospitals, and the dominant share of the capital needs of these hospitals - buildings and equipment. That makes a huge difference for the future for major hospitals like the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital.
Let me go to a practical example within the hospital. And I was speaking before to a number of people on the nursing staff and other members of staff who told me about the particular needs in day surgery. I said very simply, 'what do you need more?' And the answer for them was that they needed more space. Well what does this mean in terms of a practical difference on the ground? It means that under this plan of ours, the Australian Government would, for the first time, take on a dominant funding role for the expansion of day surgery here at the Royal Brisbane. That is the difference.
In the past, we didn't contribute a dollar. That is the key difference. So, this is going to be a tough debate. It'll be a hard debate. You're going to have, as I said before, a number of state governments opposing this, a number of state health bureaucracies opposing this, Mr Abbott opposing this. But Australians need better hospitals, and I am determined that we deliver them. Better hospitals, better health care, but also a national hospitals network which is funded nationally, but run locally.
Over to you, folks.
JOURNALIST: Is there more money for health?
PM: There will be funding for health and hospitals by taking so much of the growth burden away from state governments for the future. Let me give you an example. Right now, state hospitals and the state health budgets are growing at about 11 per cent a year. Right now, the GST is growing at about 6 per cent a year. This huge funding gap is emerging and becoming bigger and bigger as the years roll by. So what therefore happens? The Australian Government is stepping up to the plate and taking on a new $15 billion funding burden that would otherwise be borne by the states, or not borne at all.
The second thing I'd say in answer to your question is this. We also indicated plainly at the National Press Club yesterday that when it comes to more hospital beds, when it comes to more doctors, more nurses, and the other things which make our hospital system work, the Government has further things to say in the period ahead. Getting this reform right on the structure and long-term funding, however, is fundamental, to eliminate waste, to get rid of the blame game, and set up the right structure for the future.
JOURNALIST: So what will the patients actually see on the ground?
PM: Sorry?
JOURNALIST: What will patients actually see on the ground as a result of this plan?
PM: Let me just go to three quick things. One, every hospital in the nation, patients will therefore know that their hospitals are meeting tough new national standards, including identifying what is an appropriate waiting time for elective surgery and for emergency departments. At present, that doesn't exist. The second thing is this. Patients will, in the future, not have to be shunted from a Commonwealth Government-funded service to a State Government-funded service, because we, the Australian Government, will be the dominant funders of both.
And the third is this. And the third is this. That for patients, their doctors, their nurses, their health professionals will now have a bigger role in running local hospital networks. These are three big changes, and there's one fourth as well. Long-term funding needs of the system. The Australian Government has to step up to the plate, because if you look at the structure of state and territory health budgets, and their overall budgets for the next decade, they cannot support the future demands that'll be placed on the system.
JOURNALIST: Your Health Minister couldn't rule out increasing taxes to pay for this, this morning - can you?
PM: Very simply, it's this. What we have put forward with the national hospitals network is fully funded within our current budget. That's point one. Point two is, we've also - with the states and territories - provided a 50 per cent increase already in the funding to their health and hospital systems, which has already been budgeted for. The third thing I'd say in response to your question is this -
JOURNALIST: Can you categorically say (inaudible) no new taxes?
PM: The third thing I'd say is this. It is absolutely plain and clear as day that the future cost of delivery of health services will continue to go up, and up, and up. And we will continue to consider those in the budget context. On your question about tax, and let me just say this, very bluntly, this Government will continue to adhere to its commitment that we will not increase taxes as a proportion of Gross Domestic Product, consistent with our pre-election commitment. We've honoured that for the last two years. We'll honour that into the future, as well.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible) to private healthcare for patients who are on waiting lists for too long. Won't that drive down that incentive for private health insurance?
PM: We believe that people who will want to privately insure will continue to do so. That has been part and parcel of Australia for a long period of time. But what we want to make sure is that these two systems work well together - the public system, the private system - and we've seen good evidence of that in recent times. But you know something? The public system is under huge pressure nationwide.
I've been speaking to doctors and nurses here at the Royal Brisbane today, they've told me the pressures they face. There are 764 public hospitals across Australia. And you know something, the story we get right across the nation is similar. We therefore have to lift the standards for the public hospital system for Australia, fund it properly for the future to provide better health care and better hospital services for all Australians, and we'll work in partnership with the private system as well.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, will all the states have to agree to this plan? If there's one rogue state, does it mean it falls through? And secondly, does the 60/40 makeup- is there any room for adjustment there, are there any more sweeteners to offer or is that what's going to stand?
PM: We believe that for the first time in Australia's history, for the Australian Government to step up to the plate and say we will be the dominant funder of the health and hospital system for the future, that is a major reform which the states and territories should get behind. The second point is this. By doing that, we also potentially free up some of existing state government revenues to do other things which they often complain they can't do, like, for example, funding transport.
And the third thing is this. We believe that for the future, the states and territories need to put aside the petty bickering, the arguments about demarcation lines between what is state and what is federal, and just get on with delivering better hospitals and better health care for Australians. There's going to be a lot of argument in the weeks ahead. I accept that. But this is an argument we will not shrink from. We intend to deliver the reforms we put to the Australian people.
JOURNALIST: How much of the Queensland health budget (inaudible) $9.5 billion will the federal Government fund?
PM: Well, what we've said is that when it comes to the Queensland budget, that we, the Australian Government, will now step up from funding 35 per cent of the recurrent costs of the Queensland health budget to 60 per cent. And on top of that, 60 per cent of the training and the research functions which fall within the Queensland health budget, and 60 per cent of the capital costs of the system.
That's what we step in to do. We therefore adjust the GST payments from the Queensland Government and other governments accordingly, create a hospitals fund for the nation, and for future growth, we will then add to that in the future with more doctors, more nurses, and more hospital beds. On the precise numbers for each state breakdown, we can give you those later on.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, Peter Dutton in an interview today said work practices of doctors need to be looked at and he suggested that they spend a lot of time on Facebook.
PM: I haven't see the full text of Mr Dutton's remark about doctors and nurses apparently spending too much time on Facebook. I suppose what I'd say to Mr Dutton is he should really spend a bit of time in hospitals talking to the staff, who frankly are working their fingers to the bone at the moment, trying to get a job done. It doesn't matter which hospitals Nicola and I have visited over the last six months or so, I've got to say the medical staff, the nursing staff, are working as hard as they can within the limits of their budgets, the limits of the beds available, and the limits of the equipment they have on hand.
I've seen no evidence of anyone slacking at all, and I'd hate to think that Mr Dutton was suggesting that they are.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, there's a child up in Townsville who's in a hospital bed after being hit by a car, apparently for bullying. Is there anything that the Federal Government's considering to do to fix the problem of bullying in schools, and do you have any advice for his parents and other parents on how they might be able to deal with that sort of problem?
PM: Obviously, the individual circumstances of the case I can't comment on, because that'll be the subject of a proper investigation. But more broadly, I can say this. Bullying, including so-called cyber bullying, has become a huge problem across Australia. It doesn't matter which community I go into these days, here in Queensland, my home state, elsewhere in the country, this gets raised with me every other day by communities, concerned mums and dads, and by teachers as well.
The big difference is this - in the past, in the dim, distant past when people like Arch and I were at school, if there was bullying going on, it happened physically, within the playground, within the confines of the school. And that was bad enough, and it is bad enough.
What changes now is of course that, with online bullying, it follows a kid potentially 24 hours a day. You ask what we can do about it. One of the things that we are now doing is funding the Alannah and Madeleine Foundation to roll out a campaign across the country to change the way in which school communities and individual students themselves regard bullying itself. It's simply not on. It's no-go. There can be zero tolerance towards any form of bullying.
The damage it does to kids is huge. We'll have further to say about how we'd enhance our support for kids and families through Alannah and Madeleine Foundation and other areas in the period ahead.
JOURNALIST: Why do politicians deserve an increase in travel and salary allowances?
PM: First of all, when this Government was elected, we put a freeze for a year or so on MPs' salaries. Secondly, that was adjusted in the second year. Then we have commissioned a review of MPs' entitlements. That review is underway. Various MPs have made submissions to it. I imagine the general public would make submissions to it, as well. The key thing in all of this is that decisions on MPs' salaries should be left in the hands of the independent Remuneration Tribunal, free from politicians' influence.
On the question -
JOURNALIST: But Labor MPs have made submissions to this independent commission -
PM: Well, they like Liberal MPs -
JOURNALIST: Why do you think you and your colleagues need a -
PM: They, like Liberal MPs, can make whatever submissions they like. Ultimately, this will be a decision on entitlements for Government to make. But can I say on the question of salaries, salaries should lie within the hands of the Remuneration Tribunal to make their own independent decisions, and they should do so free from any form of political pressure or influence whatsoever.
JOURNALIST: Is it appropriate that schoolyards be used to play skirmishing? That schoolyards be used for war games like skirmishing -
PM: I've seen some reports of this in recent days. Obviously, P&Cs and P&Fs will make their own local decisions. I would hate to think that those sorts of activities on school premises were being done to simply raise money for local schools, if their school budgets were so pressured. We, the Australian Government, have stepped up to the plate with a vast array of investments in local schools. I don't think anyone here would doubt that over the last year or two. I'd be concerned if schools were feeling pressured to use their premises for those sorts of activities just to raise money.
Thanks folks, got to run.
JOURNALIST: Would you eat a witchetty grub Prime Minister? Would you eat a witchetty grub?
PM: This sounds like a very leading question, and I have a funny feeling where it may be coming from. Only if it was properly put into a stew and with lots of savoury spices added. Maybe under those circumstances. But witchetties- it's been a while since I've tucked into a witchetty grub, so-
JOURNALIST: When was the last time you had one?
PM: I think the double dare back in primary school, it might've been way back then.
Got to go folks.