Weatherill terms PM’s plan to ditch cuts to state health funding a ‘bandaid’ solution

PREMIER Jay Weatherill has rejected calls to honour his pledge to reinstate Emergency Services Levy discounts, despite being “confident” SA would claw back federal health funding cuts.

SA POLITICS - National Politics - Malcolm Turnbull and Jay Weatherill are expected to meet at the commonwealth offices on king william street, Adelaide. Photographer Emma Brasier

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PREMIER Jay Weatherill has refused to reverse hikes in the Emergency Services Levy despite being “confident” South Australia will claw back federal funding cut from the health system.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has confirmed he will present a new health funding deal to state and territory leaders when they meet this week, amid reports he’s preparing to ditch Tony Abbott’s hospital funding cuts.

Mr Turnbull would not say how much the package would be worth, but said he expected to have an “outcome” at COAG in Sydney on Friday.

He and Treasurer Scott Morrison are reportedly preparing to offer the states a total $5 billion interim payment over four years.

Mr Weatherill said he’d received a preliminary call from Mr Turnbull and understood there may be an interim offer.

However, he branded the likely deal to reverse billions of dollars in health cuts as a “bandaid on a much bigger wound”.

Former treasurer Joe Hockey’s first budget, delivered in May 2014 when Mr Abbott was prime minister, included $57 billion in cuts to hospitals over the next decade.

In response, the SA Government flagged major reforms of the health system, including closing the Repatriation General Hospital, and increased ESL charges.

At the time, Mr Weatherill pledged to reinstate ESL discounts if the Federal Government reversed its cuts.

SA Opposition Leader Steven Marshall today called on Mr Weatherill to honour that promise now that the State Government is set to regain funding from the Commonwealth.

“Premier Weatherill promised South Australians that he would reverse his savage ESL hike if the Federal Government reversed its budget cuts,” Mr Marshall said.

“There is no excuse for Premier Weatherill to keep slugging South Australians with massive ESL bills.

“Failure to reverse this cruel hike will confirm that it was nothing more than a savage money-grabbing exercise by the Weatherill Labor Government.”

However, Mr Weatherill said the expected return of funding from the Commonwealth “simply isn’t enough at the moment” to able to reverse the ESL increase and cover growth in demand for health services.

“We’ll get a contribution towards the healthcare cuts, I’m confident, but it will be a bandaid. It will be a small contribution,” he said.

“Steven Marshall thinks it’s a priority for him to reinstate those (ESL) revenues (to taxpayers). What he’s also, by implication, saying is that he’s prepared to support a cut to our health care system.”

Mr Turnbull this morning told reporters he “can’t confirm the figures that have been in the press” about the size of the proposed funding package.

However, he confirmed the Commonwealth “will be presenting to the premiers and the chief ministers a proposal … which will see us maintaining the commitment to activity-based funding and a national efficient price which will ensure that everything we are doing at the Federal level is calculated to ensure that Australians get the best care in hospitals and that hospitals are delivering that care to Australian patients as efficiently and effectively as we can”.

A deal has not been finalised, but the states are confident they will be offered a four-year hospital funding agreement to 2020 based on the original formula agreed under the Gillard Labor Government.

SA Premier Jay Weatherill has branded a likely deal with the Commonwealth to reverse billions of dollars in health cuts a “bandaid on a much bigger wound”. Picture: Emma Brasier

The new funding deal will reportedly be tied to a tax reform proposal under which the states will be offered a share of income tax beyond 2020 to fund health and education.

Mr Turnbull and Mr Morrison on the weekend mapped out the health funding compromise to present to state premiers and treasurers at Friday’s Council of Australian Governments meeting.

Mr Weatherill has released figures showing tens of thousands of patients would be left untreated if the hospital funding black hole was not filled.

He said the Ernst & Young report found, by 2024-25, more than 107,000 patients each year would be left untreated in the public system as a result of the $4 billion cut to the state’s hospitals. That would push more people to the private health system, driving premiums up an extra 0.5 per cent each year.

“The states and territories simply cannot afford to bear the brunt of these cuts,” Mr Weatherill said.

“It was a substantial reason for Mr Abbott’s demise and it remains the unfinished business of Mr Turnbull’s leadership.”

He said Australia was not collecting enough revenue and broadening the base of the GST was a discussion that needed to be had.

“It’s what every serious review into our tax system has told us.”

Senior clinicians from major hospitals across Adelaide have signed letters condemning parts of the Transforming Health blueprint.

The Australian said the new agreement would be tied to a revolutionary tax reform proposal under which the states would be offered a share of income tax beyond 2020 to fund health and education.