--------------------------------------
Transcript URL: http://www.pm.gov.au/node/6792
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 29 May 2010
News Type: Interview
Title: Transcript of joint doorstop interview
--------------------------------------------------------------------

PM: Well this is good day for health and hospitals in Australia, health and
hospitals in Victoria. This is an historic agreement between the Australian
Government and the State Governments and Territory Governments of Australia,
between the Australian Government and the Government of Victoria. It's about
one core principle with is putting patients first, one core principle which
is better health and better hospitals for all Australians and all Victorians.

I'd like to thank the Victorian Premier for being such a constructive
participant in what has been a difficult debate for the nation, bringing
about fundamental reform for the health and hospital system. This is the
biggest reform for the health and hospital system that Australia has seen
since the introduction of Medicare. Its core elements are these: firstly that
we are, as the Australian Government, becoming the dominant funder for the
public hospital system of Australia for the first time. Its capital costs,
its recurrent costs as well as its teaching costs, training costs and
research costs. And the Australian Government is becoming the exclusive
funder of the primary health care, the exclusive funder for the aged care
network as well. These are big and fundamental reforms.

Secondly, for states like Victoria, what it now means is that over the next
three to four years we'll investing something like an additional $1.5 billion
to enhance the number of hospital beds, enhance the elective surgery
performance within Victoria, enhance also accident and emergency services in
Victoria, as well as increase the supply of doctors and nurses in Victoria as
well.

This is where the rubber hits the road in a very practical way. I'm advised
that for example that $1.5 billion will result in some 300 plus sub-acute
additional hospital beds across the state of Victoria. For elective surgery,
making sure that we bring about over time our four hour target by investing
something like an additional $180 million in Victoria, that's for accident
and emergency. For elective surgery, to make sure that we have 95% of our
elective surgery procedures completed within clinically acceptable times,
investing in Victoria something like a further $180-$190 million, and also a
further large investment to enhance the size of the local health and hospital
workforce; more doctors, more nurses. For the longer term it also means an
additional investment of the Australian Government helping with Victoria with
at least a further investment of some $3.5-$3.8 billion for the outer years.

So this overall, is a good reform for Australia, it's a good reform for
Victoria, it is a good injection from the Commonwealth into the needs of the
public hospital system here in Victoria. And I conclude where I began, this
is an historic agreement, an historic reform, it is all about putting
patients first, better health and better hospitals for all Victorians, for
all Australians, and I thank the Victorian Government and Premier John Brumby
for his agreement to this important national reform. Over to you you John.

BRUMBY: Terrific. Thank you very much to the Prime Minister, and to Tony
Lupton and the Andrew Way and can I welcome the Prime Minster here at the
Alfred today. We are very, very proud of the Alfred Hospital and the great
work here that's performed by the doctors and nurses and support staff, but
we've been particularly pleased this morning to show the Prime Minister our
elective surgery centre, and when we were having the discussions at COAG
which led to this historic agreement, one of the things that I talked about
there was the extraordinary difference that investment in centres like this
can make.

And what we've seen here at this centre, which cost something like $90
million for stage one opened in 2007, is much, much higher rates of
throughput, better patient outcomes and cancellation rates which have dropped
from eight to ten per cent down to one to two per cent. And all of that
reinforces what the Prime Minister has talked about today, and that is that
all of the things that we're doing in health, and the reform agreement that
we're signing today, is all about putting patients first. And as the Prime
Minister said, when we went up to COAG to the COAG agreement, there was a
pretty vigorous debate across the community about health care, and there
should've been a vigorous debate because we spend more money on health in our
budget than any other single item of spending. And as the Prime Minister has
said the changes that we've agreed on have been the biggest changes to our
health system since Medibank as it was then in the 1970s.

And so we needed to have that debate with the community and between
Governments to make sure we've got the policies right, and we're signing this
document today, it is an historic document. It means significant reform to
our health system, it means better outcomes for patients, it means more
elective surgery, it means quicker treatment times in emergency departments.
And as the Prime Minister has said it also means, for Victoria, 332
additional sub-acute beds.

So when we went through that debate, we've ended up with and agreement which
I think is a great agreement for our state. As the Prime Minister said over
the next four years there will be, in round terms, about $1.5 billion extra
coming to our state. $900 million of that will flow directly through our
hospital system. And it will mean 150,000 EDs treated quicker, it will mean
an extra 34,000 elective surgery treatments and as I've said, it will mean
332 additional sub-acute beds. And of course as part of that too there's
something like $700 million for primary care, for aged care, for preventative
care, all of the things that support our hospital system, and make our health
system truly comprehensive- offering the best possible care.

In terms of the post 2013-14 arrangements, as you know these are a matter of
debate too between Governments, again we've achieved I think an excellent
outcome for Australia and for Victoria. And in our case we now have secured,
locked-in and guaranteed something like $3.8 billion of additional funding
between 2013-14 and 2019-20. So this is an historic agreement. This is a
great agreement. This is the biggest single step forward in healthcare that
our state has ever seen. And we recently produced our State Budget as you
know, and many people described it as two health budgets in one, and it was
two health budgets in one, because it contained all of the additional
spending that we're providing as a State Government, plus of course the
significant increases in spending that the Prime Minister has provided.

And so in total, with the Prime Minister's funding and our own purpose
funding, we've been able to commit $4 billion extra of funding in Victoria to
put patients first over the next four years and that's by far the biggest
single additional injection that we've ever seen in health. So it will make a
difference to patients, whether they're here at the Alfred, whether they're
at the Austin, whether they're in Bendigo or whether they're in Ballarat, and
we couldn't have done all of this and committed all of these funds, without
the significant, the very significant, additional support that we got from
the Prime Minister. And for that, Prime Minister, we thank you.

PM: Just before taking your questions, where the rubber hits the road here is
from 1 July. That's when our additional funding for Victoria starts. So we
reached an agreement back in April, and here we are looking at 1 July for
additional funds to flow, additional funds for those additional sub-acute
beds, additional funds for accident and emergency, additional funds also for
elective surgery and in other areas of investment in the healthcare system.
So the bottom line is, making the changes happen on the ground, and that's
where this partnership is so important. Over to you folks.

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister twelve months down the track, what will, what
material changes or differences will patients see in treatment and their
waiting times?

PM: I think one of the great things about being here at the Alfred today is
to look precisely at what's been achieved in this great institution in terms
of the throughput of elective surgery cases. Here, through the investments
already made by the Victorian Government, you can see that their throughput
has increased by some 60 per cent, it means less cancellations for elective
surgery procedures.

So what does this mean in practical terms? That additional investment, from
memory about $180 million ourselves with the Victorian Government on
enhancing elective surgery procedures across Victoria, means that you will
see those elective surgery waiting times comes down. That's what it's all
about. That's very practical. So the very practical bits are less
cancellations for elective surgery, more predictability for elective surgery,
meaning that you can get it done quicker and get through and get out and get
home. The second thing is, accident and emergency, additional investments
there to increase the throughput of the A and E departments of the Victorian
and Australian hospital system, so that your presentation time and wait will
be reduced over time as well.

These are big changes together with the addition to sub-acute hospital beds.

Over to you folks.

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister there's a report in the paper today that, ah,
funding (inaudible) mining campaigns. You once said that such campaigns were
a cancer on democracy, can you tell us what the difference is here is?

PM: Well what I've said before is that all such public information campaigns
should go through the relevant approval processes, that's the first point.
And the second is this, I mean the Government from time to time, over the
last two years or so, has engaged in various forms of public advertising on
matters of public, the public interest and the national interest. Also, in
the Budget papers, we were very explicit on what would be expended on
individual campaigns, and these also go to national interest or public
interest matters. Specifically on this one, let me just underline one point.
We're on about a very big change to the Australian taxation system. When
you've got, therefore, multinational companies, many big ones, lining up to
fund a very big scare campaign against big tax reforms- which could damage
the economy, damage economic confidence, and therefore hurt working families,
the Government has a responsibility to put the facts on the table. That's
what we're doing.

JOURNALIST: You described such advertising campaigns back in 2007 as a 'thick
cancer', and something which you would like to diminish. Has your position
changed?

PM: Can I say that if you were to put together the quantum of Howard
Government advertising in any period of time against what this Government has
identified publicly in the Budget papers several weeks ago as its intention
to advertise in this area and a couple of other areas, this is chalk and
cheese. Furthermore, when it comes to our responsibilities for the economy,
economic confidence, the economy at large, and protecting it from damage- and
to make sure that working families are not hurt through scare campaigns
funded by very large-scale contributions from various multinational
companies, we've got a responsibility to act. A responsibility to look after
working families. We've got a responsibility to look after the overall
interests of the economy. We have a responsibility to make sure the facts are
out there, and not simply subjected to a scare campaign funded by some very,
very big vested interests.

JOURNALIST: Have you seen the Opposition's latest campaign (inaudible)

PM: No, I haven't. And the bottom line is this. When this Government faces
the Australian people, we will be saying there is a very clear choice on
keeping our Australian economy strong, and secondly, making sure that we're
delivering fundamental reforms to the health and hospital system of
Australia. We alone are committed to the actions necessary to keep our
economy strong. Mr Abbott has said he'd happily pull the rug over stimulus-
the rug from under stimulus in the economy. On these national health and
hospital reforms, we stand committed to their implementation from 1 July, Mr
Abbott stands opposed. The other thing I'd say is that on health and
hospitals, we have a massive investment in expanding the public hospitals of
Australia. Mr Abbott when he was Health Minister ripped $1 billion out of the
system, and now has said he'd rip almost another $1 billion out of the
system. That's the basic contrast.

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, on the mining tax, are you concerned you're
losing ground in WA over that?

PM: This will be a tough debate, because we're prosecuting it in the national
economic interest. The tax reforms that we are committed to as a Government
is to deliver big changes to the company tax rate right across Australia. Tax
cuts for small business. Better super for working families. On top of funding
infrastructure for our economy's long term needs. Here in Victoria, the
Premier and I have often discussed the infrastructure needs of this great
state. These are huge needs. Therefore, the question we've got to face as an
Australian Government is how do we fund the infrastructure needs of the
nation long term. That's our reform plan. It's going to be a tough fight.
It's going to be a difficult debate. But we intend to bring about fundamental
tax reform.

It is of no surprise whatsoever when you have those who have made huge
profits in recent times that they will complain about paying more tax. I'll
leave one figure with you. Ten years ago, for every three dollars in profits
to the mining companies, one dollar was returned to the taxpayer through
royalties. Ten years later, seven dollars in profit to the mining companies,
still returning only one dollar to the taxpayers through royalties. The
Australian people actually want a fairer share of the resources which they
themselves ultimately own.

JOURNALIST: What do you make of assertions that the whaling issue has been
brought up as a diversion?

PM: The action that we have taken on that matter is consistent entirely with
our pre-election commitment. We said that we would- one, use diplomatic
action to try and bring about a cessation. That action, that diplomatic work
has not succeeded, although diplomatic negotiations continue. Secondly, we've
always said that in the event that that wasn't going to produce the results,
we would therefore undertake international legal action. This is honouring
our pre-election commitment. Furthermore, we're very mindful of the fact that
we have significant conferences of the International Whaling Commission
coming up. It's very important for Australia's position to be crystal clear,
and those conferences are only a matter of a week or two away. That's why
we've done it, and we've done it based on a decision of the Australian
Cabinet.

JOURNALIST: Premier, can I direct a question to you regarding a story in The
Age this morning linking the Facebook of this young girl who's been involved
with St Kilda players. Apparently that has ended up on some computers within
Government departments, including the TAC.

BRUMBY: I'm not aware of that. I obviously saw the article this morning, and
I think any transmission, circulation of that I think would be inappropriate.
And the TAC or any other agency should take steps to ensure that that doesn't
occur. I would make a more general point I think about Facebook, and I think
it's- there's other story in the media today for example about cyber
bullying, and the steps that we're taking there in schools. Facebook can be a
wonderful tool, a wonderful window to the world. But individuals, and
particularly young people, do need to be careful and think about the images
that are presented there, because they can be circulated, they can be
circulated to the world. And we're seeing in schools, too, the steps we've
announced with cyber bullying.

These are new steps to put in place new arrangements and new rules within
schools to try and protect children. We're doing work, too, with the Alannah
and Madeline Foundation- I believe the Federal Government also- we're jointly
funding a project there to try and eradicate cyber bullying in schools. But
look, the action in terms of circulating that, inappropriate, and Departments
need to stop that. But I think there's a broader issue there about Facebook,
and that is that we all need to be sort of mindful about the way in which
it's used and mindful of what some of the consequences can be.

JOURNALIST: The email that is circulating has former AFL footballers has
(inaudible) if not the wider AFL community?

BRUMBY: Again, I haven't seen it. I don't know if you can say that. But I
think it's unfortunate that it's been circulated, and I think I've made my
comments clear in relation to any Government agencies that have circulated
that.

JOURNALIST: Just on the resources advertising again, do you concede that
you've broken your own (inaudible)

PM: We've been absolutely consistent. Well, first of all, the Government has
funded a number of public information campaigns over a long period of time.
That's the first thing. Secondly, we have guidelines which governed that, and
those guidelines also contain within them provisions for advertising in
compelling circumstances. Thirdly, what are the compelling circumstances
here- if you face the prospect of a large-scale scare campaign from well
funded, multinational companies about tax reform, we as a Government have a
responsibility to act in defence of the economy, economic confidence, and to
protect working families' interests from being hurt. Can I add one further
thing as I go. And that is, just to echo what the Premier just said about
cyber bullying.

He's absolutely right. This is an increasing scourge on our modern Australia.
We have real problems here. You speak to mums and dads- and the Premier and I
do, regularly- this is a major problem which we have to wrestle with. It's
not making the headlines a whole lot, but frankly, below the radar, it's
something that mums and dads are becoming increasingly concerned about, right
across the country. Little kids being affected. Older kids being affected.
Kids that we all know being affected. And this is going to require some fresh
approaches from us all. Together we are backing the foundation the Premier
referred to before, the Alannah and Madeline Foundation. We've both been in
Melbourne here supporting its operation. But there is much more work for us
all to do, because this is a concern for all families.

Folks, I've got to zip, because I've got to be elsewhere.