Health Minister Cameron Dick. Picture: Sarah Marshall Source: News Corp Australia
HEALTH Minister Cameron Dick has taken aim at the former Newman Government’s plan to spend $15 million on advertising its wait time guarantee, while refusing to rule out using ads to promote future Labor initiatives.
Mr Dick on Sunday said $77 million was to be spent on advertising and bureaucracy over the three years to 2016,17, including $15 million on ads to promote the LNP’s wait time guarantee program.
But he would not be drawn on Labor’s specific plans around the promotion of its own programs.
“Advertising is important in a number of areas in Queensland, particularly in public health areas,” he said.
“We need to take that message to the community, we do have issues in relation to proper public health and proper public health programs in Queensland.”
Asked whether he could rule out any future Palaszczuk Government plan to tackle the waiting list issue being accompanied by an ad campaign, he said: “What I’ve made very clear to the Department … is we need to be very prudent and careful with our expenditure,” he said.
Mr Dick said he was intent on avoiding money being spent on “self-promotion”.
“We will look at those programs as they’re developed, but I’ve made it very clear to the Department, I’ve made it abundantly clear to the Department, I expect the focus of what we do to be on patient care and on looking after Queenslanders, not on self-promotion and self-publicity, which was the driving force for Campbell Newman, Lawrence Springborg and the LNP,” he said.
He pointed to campaigns about vaccination as an example of acceptably advertising, along with ads focusing on other preventive health initiatives.
Mr Dick said he was so far “shocked” by what he had found out about the wait time program as he continued to “unpick” it, but would not say whether he planned to axe it.
“I believe in Cabinet governance, I believe in the proper processes of governance,” he said.
Mr Dick said he still had to “work through a lot of things with this program” and would make a decision at a later date.
“I’ll be discussing matters with my Cabinet colleagues as I discover further issues as they arise and I’ll be making an announcement on what we plan to do as soon as possible,” he said.
“But I will take the time necessary to get it right.”