Victorian hospital funding: Prime Minister and Premier on collision course

MALCOLM Turnbull and Daniel Andrews are on a ­collision course over hospital funding, with the Victorian Premier accused of lying over a new deal.

MALCOLM Turnbull and Daniel Andrews are on a ­collision course over hospital funding, with the Victorian Premier accused of lying over a new deal.

The Prime Minister is set for a showdown with state premiers over the latest federal funding agreement — despite offering more than $7 billion in extra cash for sick Victorians over the next five years.

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But Mr Andrews is threatening to derail the new deal ahead of today’s Council of Australian Governments summit, claiming the state is facing a $2 billion shortfall because of population growth.

Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt accused Mr Andrews of being more interested in “playing politics than caring for patients”.

The new deal, put on the table by Mr Turnbull, would boost hospital funding nationwide by $30 billion to more than $128 billion by 2024-25.

Commonwealth funding for Victorian hospitals will increase from $24 billion in 2019-20 to more than $30 billion in 2024-25 — an increase of nearly 30 per cent.

“Our record hospital funding means more doctors, more nurses and importantly more services and support for Victorian patients,” Mr Hunt said.

“The numbers don’t lie even if the Premier does.”

Premier Daniel Andrews has been accused of lying over a new hospital funding deal. Picture: AAP/Lukas Coch

Malcolm Turnbull is on a collision course with Daniel Andrews over hospital funding.

The proposed agreement also includes a commitment from Canberra to partner with the states on reforms to deliver better health treatment for patients.

Mr Hunt said Commonwealth funding to Victorian hospitals would continue to climb to “record levels each and every year”.

But the Andrews Government says the deal does not cater for the state’s growing health costs of 8.5 per cent a year, because the Commonwealth wants to cap average annual increases at 6.5 per cent for the five years of the agreement.

Victorian Health Minister Jill Hennessy said the shortfall would mean Victoria could not afford the equivalent of almost 7000 doctors, 16,500 nurses or almost 335,000 elective surgeries.

But figures obtained by the Herald Sun show Commonwealth funding for Victorian hospitals grew by 36.4 per cent over the last four years, compared to a 13.9 per cent increase in state funding.

Mr Andrews stepped up his attack in State Parliament on Thursday ahead of Friday’s COAG meeting.

“The Commonwealth Government are intent to consolidate the cuts that Tony Abbott made to our hospitals and lock in a deal that takes $2.1 billion out of the hands of our doctors and nurses,” he said.

He also accused the Coalition of refusing to hand over enough money Victoria is owed under the current agreement.

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