OPPOSITION Leader Bill Shorten has called on the federal government to “spell out” the cuts to the country’s health system.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
During a visit to Ballarat on Sunday, Mr Shorten and Ballarat MP Catherine King spoke to residents about issues facing Parliament this month.
Ms King said Ballarat’s health system would suffer from the government’s
$2 billion health cuts, outlined in the budget, over the next five years.
The government’s new hospital funding model would also leave states and territories $57 billion worse off over the next decade.
“That means cuts to every single public hospital in the country and here in Ballarat at our fantastic Ballarat Health Services,” Ms King said.
“That is over $300 million over the next decade that should be going to this health service.”
Mr Shorten called for the government to explain where the cuts would fall.
“I don’t understand for the life of me why Tony Abbott is proposing cuts up to a billion dollars but is not even disclosing where the cuts will be,” he said.
He also discussed why it was important for the government to invest in infrastructure in regional cities such as Ballarat.
“Ballarat has superb propositions as to why people should live here,” he said. “But you have to make sure they are investing in rail and road to make this a viable choice.”
Mr Shorten said the gov-
ernment had not announced any new infrastructure in its 2015 budget.
“What we proposed in our budget reply was that we need to have generational decisions on infrastructure, not decisions based upon the next election or next opinion poll.”
Mr Shorten shied away from questions about whether he thought there would be a federal election this year but said it was up to the government to make the call.
“That will be up to them, but we’ll be ready whenever it is,” he said.
kara.irving@fairfaxmedia.com.au
