Scott Morrison to boost hospital funds to encourage restart

PM will offer funds to boost hospitals to help states, territories reopen ahead of Christmas and federal election.

The extra funds being unveiled by Scott Morrison will go towards boosting medical professional numbers. Picture: Adam Taylor

Scott Morrison will offer states and territory leaders extra funds to boost the capacity of their hospital systems as he moves to reassure them it is safe to begin reopening the country ahead of the Christmas holidays and lead-in to the election.

The Australian can reveal the Prime Minister, who returned from the Glasgow climate summit on Thursday, will discuss a new health funding package at Friday’s national cabinet meeting, which coincides with the nation reaching the 80 per cent double-dose vaccination threshold.

National cabinet also faces new demands from business and industry groups to fast-track the phase-out of restrictions and open the door to foreign arrivals to help fill critical labour and skills shortages, with Mr Morrison expected to urge the premiers to stick with the national plan.

The extra funds being unveiled by Mr Morrison will go towards boosting medical professional numbers but are unlikely to go far enough to meet the expectations of state and territory leaders, who have called for the commonwealth to fund 50 per cent of Covid health costs until 2023.

Lieutenant General John Frewen. Picture: Gary Ramage

While the federal government is confident the health system can withstand a spike in Covid-19 cases as restrictions ease, the funding measures are aimed at providing extra “security” to state and territory leaders to assist with their reopening plans.

Lieutenant General John Frewen, who is in charge of co-­ordinating the vaccination rollout, told The Australian he was concerned at lagging double-dose vaccination rates outside the Delta lockdown areas of the ACT (94 per cent), NSW (89 per cent) and Victoria (83 per cent).

While Tasmania trails slightly behind (76 per cent), General Frewen said the remaining four jurisdictions all had jab coverage of below 70 per cent, with Western Australia and Queensland yet to reach 66 per cent. He urged people to get jabbed in the next fortnight before the “Delta variant finds its way to them”.

“There is not going to be any way of stopping it,” he said. “They have an opportunity now to get out and get vaccinated. It has never been easier. If they want to be ready by Christmas, it is this week and next week.

“I think everybody is in no doubt that as Victoria and NSW open up, particularly to international travel, Covid is coming.

“And it is here to stay and it is really important that they make every effort to get these rates up.”

State and territory leaders are expected to use the national cabinet meeting to discuss the booster program, which will be available to all Australians by mid next-year, as well as progress in the vaccine rollout for Indigenous Australians.

Other agenda items include mandatory vaccinations for disability and homecare workers by the end of the year, an update on testing, tracing, isolation and quarantine protocols as well as a discussion on international border arrangements.

Business groups on Thursday called for national cabinet to fast-track the opening of international borders, with Ai Group chief executive Innes Willox pushing for December 1 to be recognised as a “national reopening day” where all major restrictions were removed and borders opened.

Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Andrew McKellar said the federal government needed to lead the way in securing a national timeline to allow vaccinated ­people to travel to Australia.

In October, Mr Morrison slapped down a push from NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet to open the state to fully vaccinated international travellers from ­November.

The Australian understands the NSW and Victorian governments are planning to further ease travel restrictions between them, potentially removing the burdensome traffic light permit system for travel from NSW to Victoria.

Mr Perrottet – who this week announced a further easing of restrictions from Nov­ember 8 – said he had “constructive discussions” with Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews on restrictions and booster vaccinations.

Mr Andrews said Victoria was on track to have 90 per cent of people aged 12 and above vaccinated by November 24.

Queensland is to open its internal border on December 17; WA has declined to give a date