THE Victorian government will maintain health services and concessions for vulnerable people despite the tough federal budget, Premier Denis Napthine has promised.
But Dr Napthine foreshadowed new cuts in other areas to keep that pledge.
He said he had full and frank discussions with Prime Minister Tony Abbott in Melbourne on Wednesday night on the effect the $80 billion in budget cuts would have on services in Victoria from July 1 this year.
“I think he certainly had a better understanding of the concerns of myself and Victoria of the impacts of decisions with regard to concessions and some of the national partnerships in health,” Dr Napthine told journalists on Thursday.
Dr Napthine said cuts to concessions and health services were totally unacceptable.
He said the state would spend $75 million to maintain concessions for needy Victorians who are subsidised for public transport and utility costs, while federal Health Minister Peter Dutton and state counterpart David Davis would begin talks on support for Victorian health services.
But he said other cuts might be required.
“We want to assure all Victorians that we will be working with the federal government to guarantee that there will be no closures of hospital beds, there will be no effect on our emergency departments and effects on our hospitals,” he said.
“There may be other decisions that we have to take but in terms of frontline services in hospitals, in concessions, they will continue in the upcoming financial year,” he said.
Dr Napthine rejected calls for changes to the GST to assist states but again demanded more GST revenue for Victoria.
He said Victoria’s GST take was reduced from 90 cents in the dollar to 88 cents for the new financial year, but Victoria deserved a share “in the high 90s”.
“I made it clear to the prime minister that I am not interested in an increase to the GST or the broadening of the base of the GST but I am very, very interested in Victoria getting a fair share of the GST,” he said.