Queenslanders blame Palaszczuk government for state’s ongoing health crisis

While the Palaszczuk government has constantly blamed the state’s health crisis on Covid and the Commonwealth, Queenslanders have spoken on who they think is responsible.

Queenslanders have overwhelmingly blamed the state government for the ongoing “health crisis” – a worrying finding for the Palaszczuk administration that has repeatedly tried to blame the Commonwealth and the pandemic.

While exclusive polling has revealed 52 per cent of Queenslanders believe the prevalence of Covid-19 and the flu are to blame, 54 per cent have pinned the ongoing pressures being experienced across the state on the government.

Eighteen per cent of respondents believe it’s because GPs are refusing to see patients with respiratory symptoms amid the pandemic, while 39 per cent have blamed an underfunding of aged care and disability places by the Commonwealth (which causes patients to be kept in hospital instead of being transferred).

Health Minister Yvette D'Ath. Picture: Evan Morgan

One in ten Queenslanders didn’t know.

The findings, revealed in polling conducted for The Courier-Mail by YouGov, follow scathing assessments of Queensland’s health system over the past year.

Amid ongoing ambulance ramping that’s causing paramedics to lose valuable hours while having to wait with patients at emergency departments, stakeholders have warned of a “dangerous” shortage of nurses, growing mental health presentations and too few GPs.

Responding to the polling on Wednesday, Health Minister Yvette D’Ath pointed to the 57 per cent of people who blamed the Commonwealth’s underfunding of aged care and disability places and access to GPs.

“The public actually understand that there are factors that are putting pressure on our public hospital system that is outside the control of the Queensland government,” she said.

“That is primary and allied health care, it’s support for aged care and disability, and we are working with the Commonwealth on these issues.”

The Minister said the Palaszczuk government had proven its commitment to health since 2015, pointing to the investment for expanding the workforce and hospital beds.

She said the Commonwealth understood the pressures that states were facing and that there was a commitment to work together.

Ms D’Ath asked the Health and Environment Committee last November to examine the health system – but only the parts the Commonwealth was responsible for.

The move was slammed by the Opposition and left hospital insiders gobsmacked.

Health was the centrepiece in the government’s June 21 budget with a record $23.6 billion pledged including $9.8 billion for the largest hospital building program in the state’s history.

The government has since traversed the state and uploaded a myriad of social media posts promoting it.

But in the days following the budget – when this polling was conducted – more than half of the respondents in Brisbane (51 per cent), other areas of the southeast (58 per cent) and across the rest of the state (54 per cent) blamed poor management by the government.

One in three Labor voters also blamed the “health crisis” on the government while 44 per cent believed the struggles were because of an underfunding of aged care and disability places.

The Courier-Mail on Tuesday revealed 15 per cent of Queenslanders deemed the government’s performance on health to be good or excellent.

But just one in four Labor voters believed the government was doing a good job.