Federal Treasurer Joe Hockey says the long-term forecasts on health and education funding in last year’s budget will stand, despite Prime Minister Tony Abbott setting up a special retreat with state and territory leaders to discuss the issue.
Mr Hockey’s first federal budget predicted $80 billion would be saved over the decade to 2024-25, by reducing the amount promised for health and education by the previous Labor government.
The states have argued that will make their own budgets unsustainable, and the issue will be on the agenda at July’s leaders retreat, agreed to at last week’s meeting between the Prime Minister and state and territory leaders.
But Mr Hockey said there would be no changes to the funding arrangements for health and education.
“What’s correct is the position we took at the last budget, which will continue to be the case,” he said.
“We said that we would fund the four-year commitments on both hospitals and schools, but after that the states need to account for the changes in hospitals and changes in schools and we would continue to provide the base funding that the Commonwealth has always provided.”
Federal Opposition health spokeswoman Catherine King has argued that will leave patients worse off.
“We know that Tony Abbott’s cuts to public hospitals here in Victoria will mean less hospital beds, less available theatre time, less elective surgery and more time waiting in emergency departments,” she said.
“Tony Abbott’s only answer to health policy is cut, cut, cut, cut.”
Health, hospital funding a shared responsibility: King
The Opposition said the Government must acknowledge that funding health and hospitals should be a shared responsibility between the federal and state governments.
“Labor embarked on a major health and hospitals reform process and it was a policy that the Liberal National Party took to the last election, that they would fund 50 per cent of the growth in the efficient price of public hospitals,” Ms King said.
“It is there in black and white in their policy documents.
“They have reneged on that promise and started the blame game yet again when it comes to public hospital funding.
“It should be a shared responsibility because the health of Australians and concern for the health of Australians is shared by all of us.”
But Mr Hockey said the Federal Government was focused on making health spending sustainable.
“Labor made commitments over the long term on schools and hospitals that were never paid for, and the position we took to the last election, and the position we took in the last budget, stands,” Mr Hockey said.
He will deliver his second budget in just under three weeks.