Turnbull closer to deal with states on health funding

Malcolm Turnbull is closer to clinching a deal with the states and territories over his health funding package.

Health Minister Greg Hunt.

Malcolm Turnbull is closer to clinching a deal with the states and territories over his health funding package after South Australia and the ACT signed up to a new five-year agreement starting in 2020.

Health Minister Greg Hunt told The Weekend Australian the outcome of yesterday’s Council of Australian Governments meeting of health ministers in Sydney represented a “real breakthrough”.

“They’ll come on board and there’s very good progress with the other states,” he said. “This is a year earlier than expected ... That means we have two Labor and two Liberal states and territories.”

The outcome means South Australia and the ACT will join Western Australia and NSW in backing the new agreement, with the Northern Territory, Victoria, Tasmania and Queensland still holding out.

Under the deal, ACT public hospitals will receive about $2.6 billion for 2020-25 in what the Turnbull government says is an increase of more than $722 million on the five years to 2020. The new Liberal government in South Australia has also accepted $8.1bn over 2020-25 — an increase of $1.5bn on the previous agreement. The former Labor government of Jay Weatherill had resisted the offer amid claims it did not replace billions of dollars cut by the federal government in previous agreements.

South Australian Health Minister Stephen Wade signed the heads of agreement yesterday, while Premier Steven Marshall met the Prime Minister in Sydney. South Australian opposition health spokesman Chris Picton said public hospital patients would miss out on more than $1bn under the “dud” deal. “Less than a month into the job, and Steven Marshall has given in to the federal Liberals, signing a dud deal to please Christopher Pyne and Malcolm Turnbull,” he said.

The federal government is seeking the support of all states and territories for a deal to provide an additional $30bn for all public hospitals, taking the total funding over the life of the next agreement to $128bn. Mr Turnbull wants the agreement finalised by the end of the year.

Victorian Health Minister Jill Hennessy has ruled out signing onto the national health reforms unless the federal government ­repays $104 million the state ­believes it has been dudded in federal hospital funding.

She has also objected to an ­assumption in the agreement that the state’s population will grow at a rate of 6.5 per cent, which she says is too low.

“This shows once again that you can’t trust Malcolm Turnbull when it comes to health,” Ms Hennessy said.

“He has attempted to deceive our hospitals — he has refused to pay funding our hospitals are owed, and now he is trying to exclude Victorians from negotiations on a new health deal that could see Victorian hospitals short-changed $2.1bn.”

Health ministers also noted an “endometriosis action plan” was being developed by the federal government to ensure “practicable and achievable outcomes for the women of Australia”.

Queensland Health Minister Steven Miles yesterday also welcomed a “new process for deciding hospital funding that will cut delays and provide more certainty for our hospitals”.

Mr Miles said the federal government had “agreed to develop a time-bound dispute-resolution process”.

“Queensland very much welcomes this development. It goes a long way to resolving the current health funding dispute,” Mr Miles said. “For too long Queensland’s hospitals have been starved of funds owed to them for operations in previous years. This result will ensure funds flow more quickly to hospitals and therefore give hospital boards and management the certainty they need.”