Anthony Albanese promises $200 million to upgrade Perth hospital, shifts focus of campaign to health

The PM is unleashing a big new chunk of spending as he shifts his focus in the election campaign to another city – and another attack line.

Anthony Albanese will shift the focus of his campaign to health policy on Monday, with a pledge of $200 million from the federal government to redevelop a major hospital in Perth’s eastern suburbs.

The Prime Minister will spruik a joint $355 million upgrade to St John of God Midland Public Hospital alongside the Premier of Western Australia, Roger Cook.

Mr Cook’s Labor state government has previously committed $105 million in funding to upgrade the hospital’s emergency department. So Labor is counting that money, plus a new, further commitment of $50 million from the state government, to reach the total of $355 million in this announcement.

The initiative is intended to provide more hospital beds, operating theatres, ICU beds and neonatal care beds, plus a redesign of the complex’s obstetrics and neonatal unit.

St John of God Midland Public Hospital in Perth.

“We’re working with the Cook Labor government to build Western Australia’s future,” Mr Albanese said.

“If re-elected, we will invest $200 million to extend St John of God Midland Public Hospital to deliver more beds and a new emergency department.

“Only Labor is strengthening Medicare, with the largest ever investment in more than 40 years. This means more free trips to the doctor, cheaper medicines and more Urgent Care Clinics – where all you need is your Medicare card, not your credit card.”

Mr Cook argued the extension would “position WA’s public health system for the future”, which he described as “a key priority” for his recently re-elected government.

“That’s why, together with the Albanese Labor government, we’re investing in projects that will make a meaningful difference to patients,” said the Premier.

“The expansion of St John of God Midland Public Hospital will add 60 more inpatient beds, two more operating theatres, a new ICU, as well as a new emergency department.

“This builds on my government’s record investment in health, and will help slash wait times and tackle ambulance ramping, while increasing the size of the ICU by 50 per cent.”

Anthony Albanese in Canberra on Monday. Picture: Jason Edwards/NewsWire

Mr Albanese flew to Perth on Sunday afternoon after spending his morning in Canberra, where he appeared on the ABC’s Insiders program and highlighted a pledge to outlaw price gouging by supermarkets.

So we’ve now had a one-two-three punch from Labor in the early days of the campaign, with the Prime Minister first hammering Peter Dutton for opposing the government’s new tax cut “top-up” announced in last week’s budget, then going after the supermarkets, and now seeking to impugn the Opposition Leader’s credentials on healthcare.

You can expect senior Labor figures to spend much of Monday slamming Mr Dutton’s record from back when he was health minister, a job he held from Tony Abbott’s election win in 2013 through to the back end of 2014.

We already have a little preview of that attack line.

“This election is a choice between Labor’s plan to keep building or Peter Dutton’s promise to cut. Only a vote for Labor is a vote for stronger Medicare,” Health Minister Mark Butler said.

“Australia’s doctors voted Peter Dutton the worst health minister in Medicare history for a reason. Everything in Peter Dutton’s record tells us that he will start by cutting Medicare and he won’t stop there. He will cut everything except your taxes.”

Mr Butler was referring to a poll conducted in 2015 by the magazine Australian Doctor. Its readers, which it said were mostly GPs, rated Mr Dutton the worst health minister “in recent memory”.

Labor’s Nicola Roxon came in second, with 17 per cent compared to Mr Dutton’s 46 per cent. Mr Abbott was third with 13 per cent.

The following year, in an election campaign against Malcolm Turnbull, Labor unleashed a quite successful scare campaign, nicknamed “Mediscare”, which alleged the Coalition would seek to privatise Medicare.

Originally published as Anthony Albanese promises $200 million to upgrade Perth hospital, shifts focus of campaign to health