PM: First of all, it's great to be back in Darwin and it's great to be here at the Royal Darwin Hospital. Over the last few hours we've been here in this room, consulting with members of this hospital community and we've been talking about the challenges we face for the future.
I've been particularly impressed by the contribution of local medical practitioners, those here at the hospital, about their ideas for the reform of the system. It's important we get these reforms right for the long term.
This Government's committed to building Australia's future. Part of building Australia's future is making sure we build the health and hospital system we need for the 21st century, not just for Sydney and for Melbourne and for Canberra, but for the major regional centres of Australia as well, and that includes here in the Territory.
Secondly, it's been good to be here to open the oncology unit here at Royal Darwin Hospital. This cancer care centre here, named after Alan Walker, is, I believe, a strong, strong message to this community that we're serious about implementing our commitments to this community.
We said before the last election it was a crying shame that a city like this didn't have a cancer care centre. We said with Damian Hale's election we're going to deliver on that, and we have, and I opened that centre this morning, and the fact that it will open its doors to begin putting in patient lists as of March and begin delivering services as of April is, I believe, a huge step forward for the Territory.
The fact that those suffering from cancer here in the Territory no longer have to make the trek to Adelaide for treatment, I believe, is a huge step forward, and I'd commend again Damian Hale for keeping us up to the implementation of that commitment which we gave to the people of the Territory prior to the last election.
The other point I would make about health and hospitals is this - on the future of our hospital system, let's be absolutely clear. On the one hand, what we, the Australian Government have done is increase our funding for the public hospital system run by the States and Territories by 50 percent over the five year period of the current health care agreement, compared with the previous five years. That's what we've done.
What did Mr Abbott do when he was Health Minister? He ripped $1 billion out of the public hospital system of Australia.
I cannot see a clearer contrast between our record in the two years that we have been in and Mr Abbott's record in the three years plus that he was Health Minister of Australia. I therefore welcome with open arms a debate on the future of the health and hospital system of Australia, our record versus the previous government's. Our record versus Mr Abbott's record as Health Minister, our plans for the future for the reform of the system as well.
One final remark before I open it to you for questions. Today, also, we announced the launch of a $2.5 million initiative associated with the Menzies Research Centre on Rheumatic Fever. Rheumatic Fever is a particular scourge in Indigenous communities in the Territory and elsewhere. This is an important initiative. If you look at the figures, Indigenous Australians are up to eight times more likely than non-Indigenous Australians to be hospitalised for acute Rheumatic Fever and rheumatic heart disease and 20 times more likely to die from it.
Rheumatic Fever has by and large disappeared in the non-Indigenous community in Australia. It's a condition from which I suffered as a kid, back in the 1960s, and from which I then subsequently had valve surgery, but the fact that here we are in 2010 and Indigenous communities are suffering this sort of incidence of rheumatic fever and its consequences is unacceptable. Therefore, this $2.5 million initiative associated with the Research Centre, I believe, is an important step forward. We've got much more work still to do.
Over to you, folks.
JOURNALIST: Mr Rudd, just on (inaudible), six months ago Jenny Macklin promised to take over Indigenous housing (inaudible). Houses still haven't been built. What's your reaction to the Territory Government's handling of that (inaudible). When are you going to take over?
PM: The review that we undertook, together with the Territory Government, has been completed. Secondly, the recommendations of that review are now being implemented. My advice as of today is that we have nearly 50 of those houses which are currently under construction, so this is a step forward.
Remember, our overall commitment is very clear, and that is how do we change the housing circumstances for Indigenous people here in the Territory? If you look at the dimensions of the commitment that we have made, it is significant. The overall investment over time, over a 10-year period, is something in the order of $1.6 billion. The commitment for the immediate period ahead goes to some $600 million or $700 million and we are therefore strongly committed to the implementation of that program and adding the extra houses and refurbishment of houses which we've committed to.
Not one of those objectives has changed. Nearly 50 houses are currently underway and we intend to roll out the program.
JOURNALIST: When will they be built, though? We've heard that numerous times, lately.
PM: Well, there are nearly 50 underway now and we will continue to implement the program. Building houses in Indigenous and remote Australia is a difficult undertaking, as those who are honest and frank in their contribution to this debate would recognise. We intend to implement the program. The review recommendations have been made. We're implementing those recommendations. Nearly 50 houses are under construction as we speak.
JOURNALIST: One of the major focuses of your emergency response to protecting (inaudible) will you do more through the intervention or other measures to help the Territory to tackle this problem effectively?
PM: My attention has been drawn today to the report by the NT Coroner in relation to these two appalling deaths, one, I understand, of a 12-year-old girl and another of a 7-week-old baby boy. I think for any Australian parent seeing reports of the deaths, and the unnecessary deaths, of young children in these circumstances and babies in these circumstances, frankly, makes your stomach turn.
Secondly, in terms of the future, on the report that I have had of the recommendations of Greg Cavanagh, can I extend my full support to his recommendation for minimum standards for out of home care to be developed and basic measures like regular health checks and regular visits to check on children in care to ensure that lives are saved in the future.
Thirdly, can I make this point - that the Australian Government is in the business of implementing national standards which will provide a benchmark for the care of children, no matter where they live in Australia. These will not just be applicable to the Northern Territory. They will be applicable right across Australia, and yesterday we released the details of options for the national standards for consultation and these include some of the measures I referred to before - regular health checks for kids in care, best-practice standards for the assessment of foster carers, and appropriate training and support for foster carers.
But I conclude my remarks where I began them - can I conclude my remarks where I began? This is an awful, awful story. It just makes you sick as you read the details of it, and we as a nation have to lift our game. One step that we are taking towards lifting our game is to bring in uniform national standards, not just for the NT, but for elsewhere as well.
JOURNALIST: On tax, are people going to need to work pretty much until they drop and aren't (inaudible) tax breaks the only fair way to keep people working (inaudible)?
PM: I welcome the question, because what the Government has been saying all week at the various addresses that I've given in the lead up to Australia Day is to face the reality of an ageing population.
Fact one: between now and the year 2050 the number of Australians aged over 65 will increase from about 12 or 13 percent of our population to something closer to 25 percent of our population.
That's what we're wrestling with. It has huge implications for the future funding of health, huge implications, also, for how we must therefore boost the productivity of our economy in order to provide greater economic growth, greater taxation revenue to fund health services and other services into the future.
So what's the Australian Government's message? Because of the ageing population, we're not going to be asking people to work longer. We're simply in the business of providing the ability for people to work smarter, and that means through our investment in infrastructure, our investment in skills and education and training. That's the Government's strategy.
Can I say by way of contrast, and why I particularly welcome this debate led by Mr Abbott is that Mr Abbott has committed himself to a pension age of 70 years of age - 70 years of age. That is Mr Abbott's commitment. He is on the record as talking about that already, so he's out there saying that you shouldn't be able to get the age pension until you're 70. What we're saying is, here is a strategy to ensure that we enable Australians to work smarter in the future. If they want to work longer and to make it easier for them to work longer, but our policy is very clear cut - that is, we don't want Australians to work longer. We don't want them to work longer.
Our strategy is not to work longer but to enable them to work smarter. Mr Abbott's strategy is to raise the pension age to 70. Can I say I couldn't see a clearer contrast.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, this is a three-prong question.
PM: Oh - let's take prong number one.
JOURNALIST: Prong number one: when can we expect a takeover, federally, of Australia's health system? Secondly, will it first be trialled in the Territory or with Indigenous health?
PM: Is that prong number two?
JOURNALIST: Prong number, and prong number three: is that partly why Nicola Roxon is meeting with Chief Minister Paul Henderson on Monday to discuss those options?
PM: Let me go through the first two and then I'll ask the Minister to speak for herself in case she has a dastardly plan she hasn't informed me of. The first is this, where's Nicola-
ROXON: Just here.
PM: Ok, good, the first is this. Our decision making process on the health and hospital system is along these lines. First, in our first two years in office we have delivered a 50 percent increase in the Australian Government's allocation of funding to the States and Territories for the public hospitals of Australia, compared with the Howard Government.
Secondly, we contrast that in particular with Mr Abbott as Health Minister ripping out one billion dollars from the public hospitals of Australia. That's the first point. Second, for the long term reform of the system we commissioned Bennett to undertake a health reform commission report. That was delivered to the Government in July last year. It contained 132 recommendations. The second stage of our decision making process is to consult with the States and Territories and the individual health and Hospital communities about their response to these recommendations to road test those recommendations. We've done 99 of those consultations so far this was the 99th in Darwin. We've got a few more to do and, in fact, Warren was telling me about his impending visit to Mount Isa and Cloncurry next week. Is that right Warren?
SNOWDON: Yes.
PM: Good, and so we'll crack the ton. There are 750 public hospitals in Australia we want to get a reasonable cross section of the public hospitals of the country and road testing those recommendations. The third stage in the decision making process is having road-tested the recommendations with the health and hospital communities of this country to then, with the States and Territories, in the immediate months ahead to engage in detailed negotiations about the future of the system.
Preference one, we have co-operative reform for the future, we agree on a long term reform strategy. Option number two is, if we can't get there through a cooperative approach, the Commonwealth has consistently said that we would then move to take other measures including the Australian Government taking over the system.
So, those, that's our approach. As for the NT we have no particular plans in terms of the NT other than to receive the good input from the NT Government about particular things which have been done right here. I was impressed this morning, by a briefing I got at Royal Darwin hospital about the operation of their Rapid-
ROXON: Admissions.
PM: - Admissions and Planning Unit, RAPU, and how that actually enhanced the efficiency of the emergency department of this hospital. I've seen one or two examples elsewhere in the country, it was good to get a briefing on that here this morning. Nicola do you want to answer for yourself? What evils have you got planned?
ROXON: (laughs) I don't have any evils planned. I'm meeting with Kon Vatskalis and Paul Henderson on Monday morning, I'm nearly half way though meeting with all of the Chief Ministers and Premiers across the country to provide more detail about plans for feedback we've got through the consultations to make sure that any feedback that the Territory government might want to give us is factored into our considerations as we get closer to putting forward a national reform package and I'm very much looking forward to it. We've always had a good relationship with our health service providers here and with Kon. I'm looking forward to talking with Chief Minister Henderson about the issues that he wants resolved and the way we hope he'll work with us to bring forward a national reform plan for the fairness of all Territorians.
PM: As with Mr Abbott's proposal to have a pension age at the age of 70, I welcome that debate. It's not our approach. As for Mr Abbott's decision to rip a billion dollars out of public hospitals of Australia when he was Health Minister for more than three years, I welcome a debate on the future of our public hospitals as well. These are debates which the country needs to hear.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister-
PM: Last one and then I've got to zip.
JOURNALIST: On the oncology unit-
PM: Yep.
JOURNALIST: It was, the facility was opened today but patients won't be seen until March-June (inaudible) why not wait until the facility is actually up and running before being opened?
PM: You know something, what I have learnt over the years is to listen carefully to the advice of the professionals who run these units. People's lives are at stake. The proper diagnosis through CAT scans of the particular condition or cancer condition in which patients have is really important, and as is then the proper provision of treatment. But you know something, these are first class professionals as I said this morning I commend, in particular, the co-operation which has been received from Adelaide, from the health professionals there in making sure this unit got up and running but it will be out there, operational as is safely clinically desirable and the figures that I used this morning were based on the advice we obtained from those professionals.
But again, if I can conclude on a contrast point, Mr Howard's government was in for 12 years, when did the Northern Territory get an oncology unit? Never.
I think, they sort of towards the end of the peace promised one - but it never happened. We've been in government for two years, we committed to doing it. Damien Hale gave that commitment to the people of Solomon and we delivered it.
It is there. It is an investment of $26-27million there for the benefit of Territorians, because Territorians should be able to have the same level of cancer treatment services as to other Australians in our major cities. Thanks folks.