AMBULANCE RAMPING
316. Ms M.J. DAVIES to the Premier:
I have a supplementary question. What responsibility does the
Premier take as Premier and Treasurer, with a record budget surplus two years
in a row, for record ramping figures at our hospitals and health failures that
constitute a crisis that we have never seen before after five years of him
being the Premier?
Mr M. McGOWAN replied:
As Premier and Treasurer, I always take responsibility for
everything that happens in government, and that is why we have in place the
strongest spend in health per capita of any government in Australia. What
happens is that the Productivity Commission puts out a report, I think it is
once a year, and it analyses —
Ms M.J. Davies interjected.
Mr M. McGOWAN: You do not listen! The Nationals and
Liberals do not listen and they do not know anything—that is the truth
of it. They do not listen and they do not know anything. No wonder the federal
colleagues of both parties have nothing to do with you!
The truth of it is that we have put more into health per
capita than any other government in Australia, except, perhaps, the ACT, but we
cannot really count it. We have put more into it than any other government in
Australia. The Productivity Commission does a report. It looks at the global
spend on population. We have put in 13 per cent above the national average. One would assume that Melbourne, Sydney and
Victoria are around the national average and other states are below the national average. We are above the
national average by 13 per cent per capita. When the Leader of the
Opposition asks, ''Why aren't you spending enough?'', we
are spending more than any other state in Australia. But, we do confront a range
of situations that are unprecedented going back to 1919. They are unprecedented
in anyone's memory—I put it that way. No-one can remember the
Spanish flu. It was obviously a bad situation—I would not want to downplay
that one—but no-one has been through anything like this since 1919, yet
our health professionals, our health system and the people who work in it have
been doing a terrific job in difficult circumstances.