PM: Today the governments of Australia, the Commonwealth and the States and the Territories have agreed on a $15.1 billion package to create 133,000 jobs to stimulate the economy and to drive a continued national reform agenda in health, in education, as well as in housing and in business deregulation.
This package, this $15.1 billion addition to the Commonwealth's investment with the States into the future is aimed at boosting our investment in education and health, improving our hospitals, improving our schools, and also training more quality teachers, nurses and health professionals.
To go to the detail of it, on the health front, what we the Commonwealth and the States have agreed is for a new Australian Healthcare Agreement for the period ahead of $60.5 billion. This represents an increase of $4.8 billion on the previous Australian Healthcare Agreement.
In addition to that, there are a number of separate national policy partnerships - national partnership agreements - which have been agreed between us as well.
One, for $750 million aimed at improving the throughput of emergency departments in all of Australia's hospitals. The second is a significant new investment by the Commonwealth in health workforce reform, a $1.1 billion new national partnership in order to invest in the future training of health professionals.
Specifically, what does that mean? New places for 212 GPs across the country. New places for 73 specialists across the country. New training for 18,000 nurse supervisors across the country, as well as new training for 7,000 medical supervisors across the country. This has been a big missing area in the Commonwealth's engagement in health reform in the past, dealing with the national health workforce challenge. Doctors, nurses, and other health professionals.
What the Commonwealth has done in partnership with the States is put its best foot forward and say, ‘here is a new $1.1 billion investment from us in lifting the number of health professionals'.
In education, the Commonwealth and the States have agreed on a new $42.4 billion agreement, the National Education Agreement. This represents a $3.55 billion improvement on the past. It includes again a significant reform agenda. A core condition for this new partnership between the Commonwealth and the States in the roll out of the education revolution is in bringing about a new era of public transparency in the reporting of schools on their performance across the nation. That is a core part of the quality education reform agenda for the future.
We have also agreed national partnerships worth half a billion dollars or more, $550 million, to support teacher quality, and critically this, based on an explicit conversation today between myself and the Premiers and Chief Ministers, a commitment to enhancing school leadership. That is, principals across the country.
Many of us in recent days have had the opportunity of speaking with Chancellor Joel Klein from the United States. And the absolute emphasis he has placed there, in which we believe we must place here, on leadership within schools so that school principals become change agents for the future, particularly those schools which are in the most disadvantaged parts of Australia, is critical.
Therefore, this new national partnership, this $555 million national partnership on quality teaching and quality school leadership seeks to do that.
Better rewards for teachers, quality teachers, better training, better professional development, specialist training, specialist professional development, for our school leadership of the future. Critical in turning many of these school communities around.
Also, recognising the challenges which school leaders will face in various parts of the country, the Commonwealth has also agreed to a national partnership of $1.1 billion of new investment in lower SES schools across the nation.
This is a significant education reform agenda. It is a large increase on the quantum of investment on the past. It is a clear statement that this government intends to prosecute the education revolution based on, also, a new era of transparency in schools reporting to their communities and the nation at large on their actual performance.
Finally, across the other areas of agreement we have reached, we have achieved new agreements in national partnerships and other agreements in the area of Indigenous health and Indigenous housing and more generally closing the gap.
Also, in homelessness and in housing we have also agreed on a new national partnership agreements, similarly in disability.
In the area of business deregulation, I make this point, in an era when business and small business are facing increasingly difficult times, what we have also agreed to do is to give effect to the deregulation agenda that we have spoken about in previous COAG meetings.
Some 27 areas of business deregulation are underway. That is, to create a seamless national economy. What we have created today is a $550 million incentive pool for the future to drive the full and final implementation of the creation of a seamless national economy. This is very good reform, and I'm pleased that the States and Territories have signed up with the Commonwealth on it.
Finally, the overall structure of the reform of Commonwealth/State relations. In the past, Commonwealth/State relations in the area of what is called specific purpose payments, we have had some 96 separate, detailed, often overlapping, specific purpose payments. What we have done with this series of COAGs this year is reduce that list of 96 down to five. Five large agreements which for the first time will be driven by a rigorous commitment to the measurement of the actual outcomes, outputs, results that we achieve through this agreement, these agreements.
This is one of the largest reforms to the structure of Commonwealth/State relations that we have had in the recent history of the federation. And it has been a good thing that we have done so.
This has been the culmination of a very productive 12 months in our engagement with the States and the Territories beginning at Government House in Melbourne in December last year, when we decided to embrace upon a reform program targeted on the future of our hospitals and health, education, housing, business deregulation as well as closing the gap. We still have much further work to go in the future, and I'll come to that in one minute.
Looking to the year ahead. There is much work to be done between the Commonwealth and the States in the area of climate change adaptation and the rest. The future of renewable energy targets, the future of energy efficiency and one of our first COAGs next year will be targeted on that.
Furthermore, the Commonwealth and the States have agreed that we'll meet in the Northern Territory before the middle of the year on a specifically dedicated Council of Australian Governments Meeting on Closing the Gap and that will be important given the additional funding which we've agreed today through the Commonwealth and the States on the Closing the Gap payments.
Also, a reform agenda priority for next year will be a comprehensive examination of the roles and responsibilities allocation between Canberra and the States.
To conclude where I began, this has a $15.1 billion additional injection into the national economy in providing stimulus for 133,000 extra jobs and a continuation of the reform agenda in health and education in our hospitals and our schools.
The next step for the Commonwealth of course will be the bring forward of our Building Australia fund list for December this year and we intend to prosecute that and we'll have more to say about our national investment in infrastructure from that time forward.
I'd thank my colleagues, the Premiers and the Chief Ministers for the cooperative attitude they've brought to today's deliberations. A solid, responsible outcome for the nation, a solid responsible outcome in health, a solid and responsible outcome for the future of education reform as well.
And this I believe is what the nation expects of us to prosecute this long term reform agenda, provide stimulus to the economy and jobs on the way through in the midst of this rolling global financial and economic crisis.
I'd like to ask the Premier of Queensland, who's now the Chairman of CAF to provide some remarks on behalf of the States and Territories.
BLIGH: Well thank you Prime Minister. 12 months ago the Council of Australian Governments met in Melbourne. At that meeting we set ourselves a bold reform agenda, nothing short of transforming the relationship between the Commonwealth and the States.
We resolved to build a more cooperative working relationship and we resolved to completely redesign the architecture of Commonwealth State relations.
Since that meeting in Melbourne, just one year ago, the world has become a dramatically changed place. We are conducting this meeting today in the midst of the most serious financial crisis the globe has faced and our nation has faced. Despite those circumstances, the agreement that we have reached here today demonstrates that we have achieved in large part the very bold agenda that we set ourselves 12 months ago.
What we see is not only a complete redesign of the agreements that underpin service delivery to Australians right across this country. We've also seen, including a reduction as the Prime Minister said from 96 agreements down to 5. Importantly, from the States' perspective, those agreements are now focussed on outcomes rather than being tied up at the front end with the Commonwealth dictating in minute detail how every dollar should be spent.
The Commonwealth has identified the outcomes they expect to see achieved and I think very sensibly left it up to States to determine in the context of their own jurisdictional circumstances the best way of achieving those outcomes.
The accountability is there, the outcomes have to be achieved, they have to be reported and how States get to them can be delivered in ways that suit the circumstances of each particular State and their service delivery systems.
In relation to health, the health systems of this country have been neglected by the Federal Government for a very long time. What we've seen over the last decade particularly is federal funding and the federal share of hospital funding go backwards.
What we see with today's agreement is an agreement that stops the backward slide in federal funding for the first time in a decade.
The states identified health as our number one priority. We accepted that in the context of very difficult financial times that we would have to understand the need to do what could be done in the confines of that financial envelope.
What's been delivered is an outcome that will see significant new services in our emergency departments, significant new surgical procedures in all of our hospitals, as well as real efforts to start tackling issues that have been off the agenda from a federal perspective for too long such as work in the area of preventative health.
In relation to education, the States believe that this delivers an outcome that will lift the educational standards of the schools of Australia. It will lift standards by putting an investment, particularly in the primary school sector, which has been a poor cousin to secondary funding from a Commonwealth perspective for too long and we welcome the decision to put parity in funding between primary and secondary schools.
We also welcome the decision from the Commonwealth to allocate another $807 million into the computers for schools program. What this means is that the computers for schools program can and will be delivered by States to the schools of each and every jurisdiction.
In relation to the housing allocation, from the States' perspective, this is a very important part of today's agreement. It not only delivers real solutions and new homes for people who either are homeless or at risk of homelessness, particularly those who are going to be under pressure in the private rental market. Importantly, what it does is put a very much needed stimulus into the construction market.
What we see in this housing package is real dollars which will be matched by the States into the construction of new social housing. This is an important part of looking after the most vulnerable people in our community, but it's also a very important part of keeping the construction market moving in what are very difficult times in the property sector.
Additionally, the allocations into both indigenous reforms and the area of disabilities, from our perspective, again looks after the people who are the most vulnerable in our community and we welcome the fact that the Commonwealth has been able to invest in these areas, despite the financial constraints that we are all operating under.
So in summary, from the States' perspective, we see this as an agreement that firstly, does start the process of transforming Commonwealth State relations. It has been done on the basis of cooperative federalism. It sets us up next year and the year after and the year after that to start really working on some of the tough issues around roles and responsibilities and we look forward to doing that.
It's a package that puts investment straight into the economy to keep the economic motor running. A package that will boost education and productivity, most importantly, it's a package that will look after those people who really rely on government services in the areas of health, disabilities and housing.
PM: Okay, I might turn it over to you for questions if that's okay.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you clearly have decided to let the good states keep control of the hospital system. As I recall, you said during the election campaign that you wanted to see some progress and improvement to this point. Can you cite some figures that show since you were elected waiting times have been better or any measure of hospitals are better that has helped convince you that you shouldn't take over?
PM: Let me answer that in two respects then I'll ask the Premier of Victoria, who is to my left, to add to my remarks.
The first is what I indicated is that we would look towards the middle of next year, that is mid-term for us, in terms of how the implementation of the cooperative arrangements between the Commonwealth and States on hospitals was proceeding.
There is a logic to that because the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission reports in the middle of next year. And that remains our timeline.
Our challenge this year has been to get the funding lines as right as possible given the constraints of the global financial crisis.
Secondly, you ask for some specific data. One of the areas in which we have been at work at already between our election and now is in the area of elective surgery procedures. We have provided in our commitments to the States some $600 million on that from the time that we were elected into the future. A proportion of that has already been allocated to the States, and the States have indicated that they have already made productive use of that in producing additional procedures.
The Premier of Victoria will now tell you what the additional procedures registered in Victoria have been.
BRUMBY: Thanks Prime Minister. I think everyone will remember at the first COAG meeting that we had in Melbourne we talked about the future of the health system and one of the funding initiatives that was brought forward was the elective surgery funding initiative.
I think it's a great example of cooperative federalism and how governments can work together to get better outcomes, and it goes directly to the question that is being asked.
In partnership with the federal government, we put in place a $60 million elective surgery waiting list strategy. We set a target of 9,400 treatments, and I'm pleased to say that we achieved that target two months ahead of schedule.
And it's a great example of the improvements in outcomes that are occurring in our public hospital system.
And I think, I'd just reiterate a point that both the Prime Minister and Anna have made today. We have had a hospital system which has been starved of money. A hospital system which has been funded by the Commonwealth at way below what has been required. And what we have got today and we what we have had over the last year is some additional funding from the Commonwealth which has been tied to specific outcomes. And, I can certainly say from my point of view, and I think on behalf of all of the Premiers, we came to this COAG meeting wanting more money on the table, but wanting too to be tied to specific outcomes. In other words, more money in, more treatments going out. More throughput through hospital emergency departments. More patients being treated. And that is the essence of this agreement which has been reached today.
So I think all of us want to see more efficient government services. All of us want to see reform, as the Prime Minister has said. And what we have got from the agreement today is more funds for a hospital system that needs it, which will see the public of Australia benefit through more people being treated.
In addition, if I could just add, the NPs which we have announced today, I think is a fantastic outcome for Australia. You know, we have moved away from this idea where the only thing that matters in health is the hospital system. And there is a terrific national partnership here in preventative health, tackling chronic disease. We spend 75 per cent of our health budget on chronic disease. So getting on top of things like diabetes is absolutely crucial. And that's one of the NPs that we signed today.
And can I just say more generally from Victoria's perspective, we came to this COAG meeting wanting a number of outcomes, and I think this COAG meeting is a fantastic outcome. It ticks every box. In terms of cooperative federalism, it is a great example of what can be achieved. In terms of the public of Australia, more money on the table, more jobs, more economic stimulus, but better outcomes.
In terms of our schools, better outcomes. Better outcomes for parents, better outcomes for communities. In terms of the business community, seamless national business regulation. The national guidelines that read on PPPs. And the other thing which I was delighted about today was what we agreed on social housing and homelessness.
And the Prime Minister has been particularly strong about homelessness. There is $400 million on the table today from the Commonwealth to be matched by the States, plus social housing, so there is more than a billion dollars there in terms of tackling the housing issues stimulating jobs and driving investment going forward.
So I think in every sense it is a great outcome, it is a great reforming outcome, it is great cooperative federalism. It shows what can be achieved. And all Australians will get the benefit of this package in the years to come.
PM: To the example just on hospitals, by the way. You know we just talked about elective surgery. That investment produced that change which the Premier of Victoria just referred to. Building on that, one of the particular matters which the Premiers and Chief ministers raised today was parallel challenges in emergency departments.
This NP, national partnership, we put forward of $750 million, that will result in more than a million extra emergency department presentations being able to be handled in the system. That's good, it's practical, it is measureable - that's why we are doing it.
JOURNALIST: When will this funding start? How many years are we talking about it being stretched over? And where is the money coming from, seeing as we just had new surpluses announced two weeks ago, is that where the money is coming from?
PM: Well the answer to those three questions, there are a range of specific purpose payments here and national partnership agreements which have different timelines. The average is between four and five years.
Let me give you an example - the new Australian Education Agreement begins as of 1 January next year. The National Hospitals Agreement begins next year as well. So the average time span is between four and five years.
Secondly, in terms of our ability to fund these with the Commonwealth, we can do so still while maintaining a modest surplus.
JOURNALIST: You said that you spoke about better rewards for quality teachers, and also a new era of transparency in schools. And you also said that you want school principals to become change agents for the future. I'm just wondering if you can explain what you mean on those three points and provide us with a little bit of detail?
PM: Well, on the question of transparency of reporting, we had a discussion about this, and what is great about the attitude brought to bear by the Premiers and Chief Ministers is that, I think without exception, we are on the reform bus. That is, transparency of reporting of school performance to the public.
Mums and Dads having a right to know how their school is going. There has been some resistance historically on that, as people who have followed these debates closely would know. Now, what we have signed up to as a conditionality of the new $4.8 billion addition to the Australian Education Agreement, is that. That's the first thing.
In terms of the national partnership agreement on quality education, it provides a funding base, some $550 million from recollection, to do two things - one is to provide states with greater capacity to make differential rewards to quality teachers. And secondly, it also provides a basis for the separate and specialist training of those who are about to be appointed as principals.
The latter is very important. If you want a principal going into a difficult or a disadvantaged school to really be a change agent and turn that from being a so-so school into a fantastic school, then you better make sure that that person is equipped with the leadership skills to do it.
And then, where that dovetails with our special resource package for lower more disadvantaged schools, and that's $1.1 billion worth of separate investment as well, covering 1,500 schools plus across the country is first class leadership in those schools. The best reward for the best teachers in those schools. Transparency of public reporting to keep everyone honest about where they were before and where they are going to in the future. And, a bucket of resources to assist investing there as well. One thing without the other is nonsense - you need all four together.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, your initial offer of $11 billion extra for the states and territories seems to have increased. Where is that extra money going to and is any of that going to a higher indexation of the Healthcare Agreement that you originally proposed?
PM: What we have done is the Australian Healthcare Agreement continues to escalate by us under this proposal at 7.3 per cent. I make this point to you - under the previous Howard Government, the Australian Healthcare Agreement, the escalation clause was 5.3 per cent - that is a huge difference. And frankly, when you look at the escalation costs faced by States and Territories running their hospitals and health system, that was simply not sustainable. That is why we have changed it. That is the basis of the $4.8 billion addition.
But, there is more. That is, the national partnership agreements that I've just referred to. One which relates to emergency departments. Another which relates to hospital and health workforce needs. Another which relates to the provision of sub-acute beds within hospitals. And if you put those together, in addition to preventative health and indigenous health, the overall quantum of the increase of Commonwealth funding for the States is significant and vastly in excess of the 7.3 per cent escalation clause contained explicitly within the Healthcare Agreement.
And in the case of the emergency departments' national partnerships agreement, the national partnership agreement, that of course goes directly to hospitals.
JOURNALIST: Premier Bligh, (Inaudible) you were asking for a nine per cent house indexation. Are you happy with what the federal government has offered you?
BLIGH: What has come out of this agreement (inaudible) is between the special purpose payments and the new partnership arrangements, what we will see is a financial outcome over the five years of the agreement that meets what Queensland was asking for. So, we're satisfied. For Queensland this is a $1.7 billion increase over the next five years in health spending from the Commonwealth.
That certainly, put all together, takes us much closer to where we think we need to be for the Commonwealth's share of hospital funding. It didn't come in the package marked escalation of indexation, but in real dollar terms what it means for us is that at the end of the agreement is an investment which is equal to what we were asking for.
PM: You put together these two things, which is what Anna was just saying, the Australian Healthcare Agreement there, 7.3 per cent escalation which is two percentage points higher than existed under the Howard Government. Add to that, the three, four or five national partnership agreements which is specifically targeted in the areas which I have just referred to. That's an increase in excess of 10 per cent.
JOURNALIST: Premier Brumby, can you tell us what the ratio of health funding will be after this point? You've often talked about the 50:50 target you were searching for?
BRUMBY: What you will see through this agreement is some improvements in relation to the funds share. And I guess you'll see the biggest improvement up front with $750 million for hospital emergency departments. So two things are happening here. You get the SPP happening on health, $500 million built into the base and the indexation at 7.3 per cent. That's way better as you've heard from what was in the forward estimates at 5.6 so that starts to bridge that gap and secondly if you imagine $750 million straight into emergency departments, from Victoria's perspective our share of that would be a little under $200 million, so that will lift the Commonwealth's share - it's not going to get it back to 50/50 and no one's suggesting that it will, but it starts heading it in the right direction and it makes those substantive improvements that the Prime Minister has referred to.
So I couldn't have come up here and wanted I don't think for a better set of health outcomes. And I say that because it's not just money on the table, it's not just the old days with money for inputs, this is linking that money to specific outcomes and that's what we want to see.
And as I said before, it means more throughput in our hospital emergency departments. It means more elective surgery treatments, it means lower waiting lists and in the national partnership there is, as I've said, whether it's indigenous health, or whether it's in workforce development, or whether it's in preventative programs, these are things which will get significant benefits for the community over time and the money again is linked to outcomes and of course in many cases to matching state funding, so I couldn't have got a better set of outcomes from Victoria's perspective. I think in terms of the reform agenda, in terms of delivery of state services, in terms of the Commonwealth paying more of its way, I think it's a great set of outcomes.
JOURNALIST: (inaudible)
If you look at emergency patients, it depends on the types of patients that go through so you know when people come into emergency, they're triaged, and their either very serious or there's not much wrong with them. So it depends which category, so you could put an aggregate number, but that might assume that they're all at the easiest category, so some will need a hospital bed, some will just need a treatment. Some will be seen and there's nothing wrong them. So it just depends on what type of patient category they are, but certainly you're looking at a substantial increase, a very substantial increase on what we can do at the moment.
PM: In fact depending on the nature of the intensity of the triaging treatment, our calculation is for that $750 million, looking at an additional between 1.1 or 1.8 million emergency department presentations nationally.
QUESTION: My question is to Colin Barnett. Do you think it's responsible economic management for any Australian government to rule out going into deficit regardless of the economic conditions and Prime Minister, what impact has the financial meltdown had on the money you've been able to bring to the table today?
BARNETT: Look, I think one of the realities of this COAG meeting was that both the Commonwealth and the States and Territories recognise that we are in the same situation. We're experiencing around this certain international environment, the loss of confidence in sectors of the economy and revenues falling.
For the States its probably more property taxes, for the Commonwealth direct taxation is affected.
If the Commonwealth or States slide into deficit, it's probably more to do with falling revenue than increased expenditure, and I think what's important is that everyone came here today with a sense of determination to reach agreement and to maintain services and improve the quality of those services.
Now I think all of us, I mean I won't dare to speak for the Commonwealth, but Western Australia faces a scenario where we could be into a deficit in 2 to 3 years. Now we will take some corrective action to avoid that, most certainly, but that's the reality of declining revenues.
QUESTION: So is Malcolm Turnbull wrong to say to go into deficit is irresponsible?
BARNETT: Look, I'm not going to comment on what Malcolm has had to say. I think if you have, and hopefully we won't, but if there is a sharp downturn into the Australian economy, governments will find themselves in deficit, that's an economic certainty.
PM: On the question of the impact the global financial crisis. I think - we had a very frank conversation over brekkers this morning at the Lodge about how this is all affecting all of our budget bottom lines, and it's just the truth. You've seen what we had to say in MYEFO and that's $40 billion reduction in government revenues.
While State and Territory colleagues, through a different taxation basic (inaudible) the same and with differing degrees of intensity.
So, it's an overhanging reality in what we're dealing with. But what is good about this, what we've agreed to today in a responsible and cooperative atmosphere is two things.
One - in the midst of a global economic downturn a $15.1 billion package which provides stimulus, creates the capacity to make some 133,000 jobs and continue reform in hospitals and schools. That's the good outcome that we've got in very difficult circumstances.
It'll be a tough year, 2009, for all of us, but if there's a good resolve among us it's that we intend to hunker down together and work together.
QUESTION: Prime Minister, on the state of Australians in Mumbai please.
PM: Our most recent advice from the High Commission in Delhi and the High Commission on the ground in Mumbai itself, is that the exact number of casualties remains unclear. We believe around 83 Australians were in the areas directly affected by the attacks.
Consular officers and the Australian Federal Police have confirmed the safety of 79 Australians following security operations at the Oberoi and the Taj Mahal Hotels.
We have also confirmed as you know, the death of one Australian, Gilbert Taylor, and we are still in the process of confirming the death of another individual who's family's advised us that he was killed. The practical reason there lies with our inability to access the site where this witnessed event occurred.
Of the 83 believed to be in the area, we remain concerned about 2 people, reported to be Australians. We can confirm that again, that three Australians have been injured.
If there is some small good news to emerge overnight on this, it's that those who we were having grave difficulty contacting and confirming their whereabouts yesterday, has significantly reduced in the last 24 hours. But we are, and we remain concerned about two people, in addition to the lists of those dead and injured to which I've referred already.
QUESTION: Just further to that question, are there any more efforts being made to secure the safety of Australians in Thailand?
PM: On the events in Bangkok, we convened on that and other matters a meeting of the National Security Committee last night of the Cabinet to go through Mumbai and consular procedures in place to support travelling Australians in Thailand given the difficulties at the airports.
A lot of work is underway right now in cooperation with airlines to provide support to get Australians out. It's difficult and it's hard because of the blockages at the airports themselves, but there is a massive consular effort currently underway by the Australian government to support a very large number of Australians who have been left stranded by these events.
QUESTION: You may get your 1.1 to 1.8 million extra throughput through emergency departments but how do we know that it's not simply people who, because there's no general practitioners out and there's a shortage, and people are closing their books, how do we know that they're not just people who have got colds who are going to the states and thereby this is simply just a cost shift?
PM: Well, there are two answers to that. One is, everything is related to everything else. That's why in this package, you see the Commonwealth rolling up its sleeves to assist significantly for the investment in training of extra GPs, the training of extra specialists, the training of extra nurse supervisors and medical supervisors.
That's part of our responsibility as well - GPs of course being in place. The second is this, and it goes to wider reform of roles and responsibilities. And that is the reform agenda I pointed to for next year which will be shaped by the reporting outcomes of the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission mid-year.
Classically, what happens if the Commonwealth are being unhelpful is that they retreat to their bunker. And they basically pull up the walls around aged care and allow people who are being classified by the (inaudible) system as effectively frail aged remain in acute hospital beds which create problems there.
Our interim solution to that is to provide an additional 2,000 transitional beds for people in those categories.
But there is a systemic question which underpins it and that's part of the reform focus next year.
On the other end of the spectrum it is to ensure that we don't have the Commonwealth simply saying, ‘well we do GP land, and we don't care what happens in emergency departments, cos' that's your problem'. What's our response in the interim on that, it's to do what we've just done with the $750 million emergency department national partnership agreement.
So those two things are significant measures, but you are right to point out that there are underlying structural tensions in the function of responsibility between the two levels of government. And that was on our agenda to deal with next year.
RANN: If I could just add to that and I do not want to be controversial at all, that is not my way - but the fact of the matter is that happened today could not have happened 18 months ago. Because the issue of healthcare reform was banned from discussion at COAG meetings. So even though we are in difficult economic times, difficult on the global situation, we are actually able to through the COAG process to deal with issues like climate change, which was also for a while banned under the previous administration, let alone health reforms.
Sort of piecemeal things like diabetes, very important, and the new health call centre, but I mean, the difference is that under this process that you can actually have a dialogue and actually make some progress.
I mean, someone asked about the outcomes in the last year or so. I can tell you the outcomes in my state over the last six years, and that is in a small state like South Australia in terms of population, and extra 902 doctors, and extra 2,800 nurses. And while we were putting more and more money in, the Howard Government was taking it away.
On education, a very good deal today. And strongly supports the idea and the concept of giving principals more empowerment and authority. I mean, we think in South Australia that teachers should run class rooms, principals should run schools and that the government should run the education system, not the education union.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you've announced today a lot of funding for some very ambitious goals. I was wondering if you could tell Australians when they might see better services and more resource facilities in the schools and hospitals? When do you expect these funds to actually deliver results on the ground?
PM: Well firstly, can I say, not everything simply starts with this $15.1 billion additional package of measures announced today. For us to look at computers in schools for example, that's been flowing out through the course of the last six months. There has already been funding allocated for the provision of literally more than 100,000 computers. By the end of December I'm advised that you'll have some tens of thousands of computers already committed.
So that's one practical area. The second area, if you want a one-off example in the health space, it's what I referred to you with the Premier of Victoria, it's in elective surgery. That's work that's already done.
Thirdly, on the $15.1 billion worth of measures here, that starts rolling as of 1 January, or in some cases 1 July. And, they roll out over four to five years.
What are we concerned about here? Shouldering our part of the nation's burden, partnering with the States and Territories, in delivering better schools, better hospitals, better trained teachers, and better trained doctors and nurses. That's what we are on about. There's no magical solution here, it doesn't all happen by 4pm next Thursday night. But you know something, we are a bit closer to getting to a decent national outcome than we were a year or so ago.
What Mike Rann said, you know, it might sound party political, but it's kind of right. The easiest way for the previous federal government to balance the budget was to say, ‘okay states, get lost, and we'll give you five per cent indexation clause on your health agreement because that just means I can prop up more money myself as the Commonwealth and pretend to be a fine fellow and spend it on something else'.
Well, that's terrific, that's cute politics and will get you anywhere in terms of delivering better hospital services.
We believe we put a solid, strong step forward. If we were in a better revenue environment, we probably could have done better. But it's tough, it's a really tough environment. We're all facing that but we think this is a good mix of economic stimulus, $15.1 billion, 130,000 jobs through this package and solid reforms in hospitals and schools into the future.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister you promised to end the blame game. 12 months on can you declare it? Can you declare that you have ended the blame game?
PM: Look, you know, what's been good about this process is, and I think we've met now four times, or is it five? It's becoming an excessively familiar relationship and well what is good about the discussion is that people have a genuine passion for a national outcome and I don't see people in this gathering wanting to just play, sort of, cheap politics about this stuff, they actually want good outcomes for the country and for their communities.
JOURNALIST: At an end to this cute politics can you assure the residents of New South Wales that the hospitals with problems that have been floating the hospitals will get better and how quickly will the situation get better?
REES: Oh, look, I think that, on balance, this is a very solid package that we've been able to negotiate with the PM today. A package that is both responsible for the times, as has been pointed out, but also responsive to our needs and of key interest there, is the additional money for emergency departments. New South Wales has the biggest in Australia, some 2.4 million presentations each year, and there's no question this will go some way towards helping out those stressed emergency departments.
But equally, the PM and others have talked about the reform process. Well, this isn't simply reform for its own sake, it's strategic reform around how we better deliver a health workforce, how we better deliver an education workforce, how we better measure outcomes and how we set our systems up knowing that we have in many cases shortages of some workforce areas particularly in health.
How we fix those and set the system up for the medium and longer term and that's why I, at my first COAG resolution here today, I'm very encouraged at the strategic focus of the deliberations.
JOURNALIST: My question (inaudible) do you think you'd transport infrastructure funding through today?
BRUMBY: Well, the Prime Minister addressed that earlier and he'll get the report from Sir Rod Eddington in December, by mid-December, that'll be the interim report. So I got everything that we wanted today including a very good discussion about infrastructure and that's confirmed what the Prime Minister has indicated previously and that is that there'll be a strong infrastructure program, they'll be some announcements as the Prime Minister has said in the next few weeks in relation to infrastructure and there'll be major announcements again next year.
That's very positive from our perspective.
JOURNALIST: Do you think that the States should publicly report the outcomes of the (inaudible) so the public have a basis to judge whether they're a success or not, and then you do you expect in the discussion next year on roles and responsibilities to result in constitutional change?
PM: On the question of public accountability and public reporting, the data that will flow from the outcomes measures in each of the specific purpose payments and for that matter, in the national partnership payments from my point of view should be their for all to see in due season and this is designed to frankly improve the performance of a lot of us.
That's if you like, at a local level, (inaudible) in schools, that's what we're trying to do within communities, make sure that schools own their data for how they're performing.
To conclude, can I just say, we've had a $10.4 billion stimulus package. That's been an important step. This $15.1 billion package also helps to stimulate the economy. The Premier of Victoria said before we've got more to do yet on infrastructure.
2009 - a very hard year but we're going to be putting every effort and taking every decision necessary to continue to support growth and jobs. It will be a tough year for Australia and for families.
Thanks for your time.
[ends]