State premiers will immediately begin pushing the new prime minister, Anthony Albanese, to overhaul Australia’s health system, amid concerns that a lack of investment in new general practitioners is exacerbating pressure on public hospitals.
On Tuesday the New South Wales premier, Dominic Perrottet, revealed he had already spoken to Albanese following the federal election and will unite with other state leaders to push for health reform to be a priority for the new government.
Declaring that “the people never get it wrong”, Perrottet, now the most senior Liberal party member in government after the Coalition’s defeat at federal level, said he welcomed Labor’s election victory as a chance to have “fresh conversations” on health reform.
It follows a decision at the most recent meeting of the new Council for the Australian Federation – made up of the premiers and first ministers – to push the commonwealth to reform Australia’s two-tiered health system as a priority, amid “significant budgetary pressures” caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Perrottet said he and other state leaders planned to write to the new prime minister to push the case for an overhaul of health funding.
“We do need reform and we do need bold ideas to take our country forward, and they can’t sit in the too-hard basket. Whether it’s health reform, education reform [or] tax reform, these are the things that will help drive opportunity and prosperity,” he said.
The states have repeatedly raised concerns about health funding in the wake of the Covid pandemic, including calls from both Victoria and Queensland for the federal government to invest more in GP funding amid strain on public hospital emergency departments.
While NSW avoided publicly criticising the federal government during the election campaign, the state has significant concerns about its overstretched health system, particularly in the regions.
“In terms of the connections between the public health system and the GP network, primary care, these are areas that I think we can do better [in],” Perrottet said on Tuesday.
“They’re actively working against each other, and if you can’t reform health after a one-in-100 year pandemic, then you never will.”
The states have also called for greater commonwealth funding to address pressure on the health system caused by the pandemic.
On Tuesday the Victorian premier, Dan Andrews, said the states were united in demanding a 50-50 hospital funding split.
“If you’re only funding 45% and the states are funding 55% of hospitals, that’s not an equal partnership,” Andrews said.
“When you count capital and equipment and all sorts of other costs, it’s more like 60% paid for by us and 40% paid for by the commonwealth. That’s not fair.”
Prior to the election, premiers in both Labor and Liberal-led states, backed by the Australian Medical Association, had urged the Morrison government to abolish its 6.5% annual growth cap on hospital funding and lift its contribution from 45% to 50%.
Neither major party committed to the pledge during the campaign, though Albanese has made negotiating constructively with premiers a focus of his incoming government.
The AMA has estimated that a 50-50 public hospital funding split and the removal of the cap – introduced by the Turnbull government in 2017 – would cost the commonwealth $20.5bn across four years.
A Covid funding deal that provided additional commonwealth investment for Covid-related health costs is also due to expire in September. But former head of the federal department of health Stephen Duckett said the additional demand on states’ heath systems due to Covid would not be dealt with before then.
Duckett said states were dealing with hospitals that were already under strain prior to the pandemic and deferred care that has built up during Covid, but that the federal government would need to consider if it would get productivity improvements if it boosted its hospital fundings contributions.
“What are the states offering up to the commonwealth? You can’t just go and call for more money. There has to be some quid pro quo. That’s what the negotiation is,” he told Guardian Australia.
After the federal government’s defeat and the near wipeout of the moderate wing of the Liberal party at the hands of a number of so-called teal independents, senior MPs in NSW including the treasurer, Matt Kean, have been vocal about the need for the party to avoid drifting further to the right.
Perrottet declined to enter that debate. Noting the Morrison government had done a “great job” during the pandemic, he also said both major parties “need to focus on people”.
“I also think we need to continue to offer hope, optimism and positivity. That’s what the public want, particularly at a time when it’s been a difficult two years for people right across our state.”
