What Anita Dow fails to tell Tasmanians in her latest media release is that Labor has a secret plan to fund its policies by slashing the health budget, which will ultimately result in less nurses, doctors and paramedics in Tasmania.
Ms Dow said on October 22* that Labor would use “cost savings” to fund its health policies.
Liberal Member for Bass, Simon Wood said Ms Dow has finally admitted the Opposition has its red marker squarely focussed on our emergency departments.
“Sadly, this will be of no surprise to Tasmanians who remember when the Opposition sacked a nurse a day for nine months, closed wards and put beds into storage,” Mr Wood said.
“Labor shows Tasmanians every single day why they can’t be trusted with health and definitely can’t be trusted with the Budget.
“While Labor stands for nothing, the Rockliff Liberal Government is delivering the health services Tasmanians need.
“We have delivered 220 additional paramedics and dispatch officers across the State since 2014.
“This has included the establishment of new 24 hour crews in Launceston and Hobart, as well as providing 24 paramedics across our rural and regional stations.
“We also made 97 paramedic positions permanent this year.”
The Rockliff Liberal Government is also supporting this investment by delivering state-of-the-art ambulance stations across the State.
“We are building two super ambulance stations at Burnie and Glenorchy. We have already opened new ambulance stations at Bridgewater, Beaconsfield and Queenstown,” Mr Wood said.
“Tasmanians are turning away from the hopelessly divided and relentlessly negative Opposition in droves, and it’s no surprise.”
Transcript of Ms Dow’s statement:
“Our Regional Health Policy is funded by looking at cost saving around consultancies and was, or freezing consultancy fees and other charges across the health system. It’s really important that we look at how we spend the health dollar across Tasmania and our opportunities to look differently at how we fund health service models, and our Regional Health Policy is one of those opportunities.”
