Media Statement - 7th August 2007
Health Minister Tony Abbott’s failure to provide any more detail of the Federal Government’s takeover of the Mersey hospital today is more evidence that this was a political stunt with no long-term plan.
Tony Abbott today met with the Tasmanian Minister for Health and Human Services Lara Giddings, who said after the meeting that Tony Abbott:
- “Failed to provide any further meaningful detail” of the proposal
- Showed an “inability to cite any clinical basis for the proposal”
- “Came with no blueprint for how the Mersey would operate”...(- Lara Giddings press release)
A week after the Mersey takeover was announced, Tony Abbott still has not provided locals or the Tasmanian Government with the detail needed to assess the plan.
More and more evidence is accumulating that the Government’s decision to take over a single Tasmanian hospital is a political stunt from a Government lacking long term national solutions on health.