Clarence patients can’t afford any more broken Labor hospital promises

25 May 2009

Clarence hospital patients, doctors and nurses will suffer badly if the Rudd Government fails to keep its promise to fix public hospitals by mid 2009, Clarence Nationals MP Steve Cansdell has declared in a rare attack on the Federal Government.

The MP was speaking after media reports in the Sydney Morning Herald and on Channel Nine that Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon was backing away from her party’s health commitments, because she saw ‘positive signs of improvements’ in public hospitals.

“That may or may not be the case in Ms Roxon’s Melbourne inner city electorate, but in our region, the Grafton, Maclean, Coraki, Casino and Lismore hospitals are in deep crisis and the situation is getting worse by the day,” Mr Cansdell said.

“Clarence residents are literally sick of Labor’s broken hospital promises. Mr Rudd pledged that if State Governments had not improved services by mid 2009, he would take over all of Australia’s 750 public hospitals.”

“Under Rees Labor cost cutting, Grafton is losing nurses, Maclean is losing night security and its CEO, Coraki has all but closed, Casino has no doctors, and Lismore is massively overcrowded.”

“Ms Roxon is clearly wrong in her assertion that our hospitals are improving and she can’t just back away from Mr Rudd’s clear promise with these fake excuses,” Mr Cansdell concluded.