In the "Smart State" the Beattie Government has suffered the loss of two Labor strongholds in south-east Queensland, which it blames on the state's deepening health crisis. Rightly so.

Leahy, Beattie stumped

Maybe the days of smiles, hand-wringing promises of penance and the upbeat we are sorting the problems in Sideshow Alley are over. It looks as if is time for the Beattie Government, like the other ALP state governments, to actually start to deliver on better health outcomes. They have the cash in their coffers courtesy of the GST, so they have little excuse anymore with respect to health, roads and schools.

After all the first two waves of economic reform in Australia: the financial deregulation in the 1980s and competition policy in the 1990s are now history. Tis time to show what an ALP government understands by reform, as opposed to just keeping the economy expanding and singing the song written by the Liberal Party (25 per cent cut in business red tape over the next decade; a simpler tax system with a broader base and lower rates to significantly enhance participation, productivity and efficiency; freeing up Australian industry to better compete with the booming economies of China, India and giving greater government attention to infrastructure projects of national importance).

Me thinks the Beattie Government, just like the Rann Government in South Australia, has blown it's health reform creditionals. Neither---and we should also include the NSW Government--appear to have the political courage to begin the reform of the health system, so that greater emphasis is placed on the different kinds of primary health care rather than the public hospitals.

Plan B is really managing the media headlines to keep health off the front page. It is the same as Plan A.

Comments

Posted by: Lawrence Rosier | August 22, 2005 07:27 PM