O’Farrel Continues to Oppose National Hospital Reforms

Added by James Morley on February 9, 2011

Barry O’Farrel, the leader of the New South Wales opposition, said that he would not be “locked into” health reforms.

The statement comes in a crucial time as the state government has signed up the national hospital reforms to be discussed in merely a few days.

The COAG reform, the health agreement of the Council of Australian Governments, implies that all Australian states will be losing 1/3 out of the GST revenue they currently benefit from.

However, the federal government would take it upon itself to cover 60 percent of necessary hospital funding.

Colin Barnett, the Western Australian Premier, also said that he is opposing to the proposed deal which was initially discussed in April 2010 with former Prime Minister Rudd.

Next Monday, a meeting will take place in Canberra with regard to the COAG plan and health reforms. In a pre-election statement, Barry O’Farrell said that if he were to be elected in New South Wales on March 26, he would not be “locked in” to the agreement which was signed by Kristina Keneally, the Labor Premier.

During his statement, O’Farrel promised to request a better deal with regard to the GST revenue. The opposition leader further added that before Rudd was elected as Prime Minister, a promise had been made with regard to New South Wales getting it fair part of the GST revenue, which was not followed to the end.