LNP pledges to employ thousands more doctors and nurses

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By Matt Eaton

More than 2,650 extra nurses, doctors and health staff will be employed by a re-elected LNP government, Campbell Newman has announced.

The commitment would cost about $583 million and be delivered over three years from the next financial year.

“That’s 490 additional doctors, 1,700 additional nurses and 464 additional health practitioner positions,” he said.

“We all want a healthier Queensland and we’ve been working hard over the past three years to reduce every single waiting list.”

Speaking at Brisbane’s Princess Alexandra Hospital, Mr Newman was flanked by Health Minister Lawrence Springborg who said waiting times in that health district had all but disappeared.

“Here in Metro South [health district] go back three years under our predecessors, 3,000 long-wait surgical cases here – now it is virtually eliminated, almost zero,” Mr Springborg said.

“There was thousands of people waiting too long for their dental appointment. Today it is zero.”

Mr Newman said Queensland Health had been a “dysfunctional mess” by the time Labor left office three years ago.

“We had a payroll system that meant staff were not being paid on time or incorrectly,” he said.

“We had a fake Tahitian prince and huge problems with ambulance ramping.

“Fast-forward three years, we have a $2-billion-a-year higher budget, 18.7 per cent more than when we were elected.

“There are 1,000 more nurses working in Queensland Health today than back when Labor were in office. There are 871 more doctors today than when the Labor Party were in office.”

‘We have been transparent’

Meanwhile, Mr Newman deflected questions on whether it was appropriate for the LNP to accept payment for business people to access ministers behind closed doors.

It comes after former Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) chief David Ipp QC told the ABC a lack of transparency around political fundraising in Queensland could lead to corruption.

“If we are talking about transparency, we are a few days away from an election and Queenslanders haven’t had the answers about how the Labor Party will fund their promises, or actually deliver on the things they said they’d deliver on,” Mr Newman said.

“We have been transparent. We transparently developed a 30-year plan for the state. We have delivered individual industry sector plans.

“If you want to talk about transparency, we publish ministerial diaries, we have RTIs (right to information requests) handled by the public servants, not political staffers.”