PM: The Government's plan for introducing reforms through the National Health and Hospitals Network is of fundamental importance to delivering better health and better hospital services to all Australians. This is the single largest reform that the Government has brought about in the health and hospital system since the introduction of Medicare. What's it mean on the ground? Better health and better hospital services. Big reforms for accident and emergency. Big reforms also for elective surgery.
Big reforms in terms of the number of hospital beds, some 1200 plus additional hospital beds across the country. It means also more nurses, an additional 1000 nurses being trained each year. More GPs, an additional 1000 or a total of 1200 GPs being trained each year, double that which existed at the time when Mr Abbott put a cap on that when he was Health Minister. So these are fundamental reforms.
But the rubber hits the road in terms of the services which are actually delivered to working families, their kids, their mums and dads and grandparents on the ground. And what I've sought to do today is explain very carefully how that affects individual lives. How it affects you if you get a sick kid on a Saturday morning who develops an infection and has got no GP to present at. How does it affect you if you've got a grandad who needs hip replacement surgery, against the guarantees that we're now providing for elective surgery, and his ability to get that service elsewhere, either at another hospital or at a private hospital.
Or how does it affect you if you're one of the 2.2 million Australians who are suffering from type 2 diabetes or projected to across the course of the decade, and what does that mean in terms of your better personalised care plan, and the better spread of regional cancer care services. These are big reforms. We have planned it, we have funded it in the Budget, we've agreed it with the states and territories. It's to be rolled out starting from 1 July this year. The alternative's pretty clear as well.
Mr Abbott as Health Minister gouged $1 billion out of the public hospital system of Australia, and now has committed himself to nearly $1 billion of further cuts to health services in the future. This alternative is absolutely stark, absolutely clear-cut. Over to you folks.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, what does it say that Peter Garrett didn't know about the suspension of the ETS, that he read it in a newspaper? What does it say about the Government?
PM: Well, on the question of the deliberations on the emissions trading scheme, that of course was conducted through the relevant Cabinet committee. Secondly, of course, then the entire Cabinet approved the entire Budget, which included within it the proposed funding arrangements for climate change measures, including that one. Furthermore, I wouldn't comment further on internal Cabinet arrangements. Of course, the full and smooth flowing of these arrangements is sometimes interrupted when in a free and fast-flowing democracy such as ours, various bits and pieces are leaked out to you as members of the fourth estate.
JOURNALIST: Mr Rudd, it was a pretty friendly reception in there this morning for you, you must be pretty happy with that- although today's polls look as though you wouldn't be getting that reception, you know, elsewhere in the country, in fact you'd probably not be in Government anymore. How does that make you feel?
PM: I think it's very clear-cut that if what we see in the polls today is reflected on election day, Mr Abbott would be the next Prime Minister of Australia. Let's just be upfront about that. I think that it's also very important to say that elections are about alternatives. Let's be very, very clear about this. The alternative on offer is either a Government led by myself, or a Government led by Mr Abbott. The alternative is my plans for Australia's plans future, versus Mr Abbott's plans for Australia's future.
The alternative is, in our case, keeping the economy strong, keeping the economy out of recession, three years of tax cuts for working families, better health and hospitals. What's Mr Abbott's plan? Bring back WorkChoices, cuts to education, cuts to health. We have a huge job ahead of us in the months ahead to make that alternative crystal clear in the Australian public's mind. But let's be very blunt. If those numbers today are reflected on election day, Mr Abbott would be the next Prime Minister.
JOURNALIST: Are you resorting to a fear campaign though, Prime Minister, by referring to Mr Abbott as now the alternative leader?
PM: I think it's just called calling a spade a spade. The polls, as reflected today, if they were repeated on election day, would have Mr Abbott as the next Prime Minister. Therefore, let's be very clear about it. Elections are about alternatives. Either voting for myself and my plans for the country's future, or Mr Abbott and his plans for the country's future. It's pretty basic. Either you're voting to keep WorkChoices out, or you're voting to bring WorkChoices back. You're voting for either increased investments to the health and hospitals system, or cuts to the health and hospitals system. Increased investments in our schools and universities, or cuts to our schools and our universities. It's pretty basic. It's about alternatives. But I'm simply calling a spade a spade.
JOURNALIST: Your popularity and the Government's popularity have plunged pretty dramatically. I'm just wondering, which decision do you regret the most?
PM: The key thing is to work absolutely tirelessly to deal with the challenges which lie ahead for Australia's future. I have a huge amount of work which lies ahead of me. The Government has a huge amount of work which lies ahead of us. There's little point in raking over the coals. Commentators can do that. Our job is to get on with the business of outlining our record of achievement, our plans for the future, and to contrast that with Mr Abbott's record of achievement as Health Minister for five years, and what he said he believes in, and his plans for the future. And nothing's more basic than that, than health and hospitals.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you said that you're calling a spade a spade. Is David Marr calling a spade a spade? He's written a fairly colourful piece about his time with you, mentioned some rather obscure language as well. Is this on the record, is this correct?
PM: Can I say something- commentators can write whatever they like, and they have been for years about yours truly. My job's to get on with the business of working hard to bring the economy into the future, implement tax reform, make sure that we keep the economy strong, make sure we bring the Budget back to surplus- three years time, three years ahead of time. And deliver our reforms for health and education. What commentators write about, you know, me, is just a matter for them really.
JOURNALIST: Mr Rudd can I ask a broader question?
PM: What if I said no?
JOURNALIST: What's gone wrong?
PM: The key challenge for us is to get on with the big tasks which lie ahead for the Government. You've just heard me speak about health and hospitals reform, this is a massive reform agenda, it's hard, it's tough, it's difficult, there's been a fair bit of opposition to it from some of the State's and some of the Territories, getting on with the business of tax reform, the hard and tough business but it's necessary in order to keep the economy strong, necessary for example, to continue this economies global competitiveness, to boost that competitiveness in the future, boost our national savings for the future, and on top of that, to make sure that we're also building our nation's road, rail and port for the future, that's what we're focussed on.
As I've said there's little point in raking over the coals from the past, commentators will do that, my job's to get on with explaining my plan for the future, and to contrast that with Mr Abbott's plan for the future and I intend to do that.
JOURNALIST: But there's something personal about this, it seems directed against you at the moment.
PM: Well my challenge is to get on with the business of working harder in the future, there's a huge amount of work for me to do and for the Government to do, I intend to get on with it, and we're pretty determined about getting these reforms of ours done.
The health and hospitals system been waiting for these reforms for 30 years, tax reform's been sitting out there waiting to happen for the last 20 years, education reform' has been waiting for the last ten or 20 years; we're going to do that, we're going to keep at it, we're determined to do it and obviously it's going to be a rocky old road, and if there was an election, based on these numbers, then Mr Abbott would be the Prime Minister, that's calling a spade a spade.
JOURNALIST: So are you angry at the core, as David Marr's put it?
PM: The question of what folk happen to say about me and all the rest of it is a matter for them. Commentators, analysts, writers they will draw their own conclusions, I'm a determined person who is determined to deliver on the reforms that we set out to in health, in hospitals, in education, the Education Revolution, in keeping the economy strong and I'm determined to work hard to make sure that that set of plans is a very clear set of alternatives to Mr Abbott's plans which are all about bringing back Workchoices, cuts to education, cuts to health, and on top of that, I've got to say with no plan whatsoever to bring the Budget back to surplus, that's what separates us.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister do you blame yourself for poor polling?
PM: The key challenge for us is to just roll up our sleeves for the future, I'm the Prime Minister, I'm responsible for the leadership of the Government and I have said consistently through good times and through bad times, through difficult times, through less difficult times, that the buck stops with me, that's very clear. But the challenge for the future is to get on with the task of delivering our core reforms, and we intend to get on with the business of doing that.
Elections, again I say, are about alternatives. If these polls are reflected on election day Mr Abbott is the Prime Minister. Secondly, elections are about the alternatives, what do I stand for, what does he stand for, what is his record, what is my record, secondly, or thirdly, what are his plans for the future and what are mine?
Having just spoken to a whole bunch of working people, and ask them this pretty basic question about Workchoices, it's pretty interesting when all that comes to the surface, how deeply, deeply anxious people are about Mr Abbott's plans to bring back Workchoices. It affects everyone in the workforce. He's already announced his plans to get rid of protections from unfair dismissal, he said that Workchoices will be back, whatever name they've given it. Elections are all about alternatives and this one will be no different, it will be tough, it will be hard, it will be hard fought, but we're determined to get on with the job that we have to do.
JOURNALIST: Mr Rudd (inaudible) we had a decade of the Howard Government, that Prime Minister then lost his seat. You know you had that incredible public support for the apology and signing Kyoto, you had record personal satisfaction. Just as Kevin can you tell us how disappointing this feels?
PM: The key thing is just to get on with the job, I'm a determined person and it's a task of getting on with the job of delivering the reforms we'd said we'd do. I can't begin to explain to you how hard, for example, health reform is. Getting that done, getting it agreed, getting it implemented, it's detailed and complex work.
Education reform, hard detailed complex work, getting it done, and at the end of the day keeping the economy strong.
You know when we all went around the world into a recession - the work that the Government was required to do to keep Australia out of recession was tough work, we did what we had to do, we therefore were the only major advanced economy not to go into a recession. These are tough things; the business of Government, it's a tough business, but we intend to get on with it, we will remain determined to implement our reform program which goes right across health, education, as well as keeping the economy strong and equally determined that everyone is clear cut about the alternative which they have before them, and that alternative is Mr Abbott and Mr Abbott's plans for education cuts, hospital cuts, as well as his determination to bring back Workchoices for all working Australians.
Having said that folks, I've got to zip.