It now seems very likely that the states won’t pass Kevin Rudd’s health reform policy at the upcoming health summit. Victorian Premier John Brumby doesn’t love Rudd’s plan to take over the running of the hospitals from states without any extra money, so he’s suggested his own 32-page health policy.
Is Brumby just trying to show Canberra up or are his objections to Rudd’s plan valid?
Here’s what the pundits think:
The Age
Paul Austin: A case of anything-you-can-do …
Call it the Cocky Victorians syndrome.
The Australian
Dennis Shanahan: Leader exposes the flaws in Rudd’s revolution
Brumby’s assessment is devastating factually and politically.
Adam Cresswell: Self-interest rules in Premier’s plan
What else can you say about a proposal that is riddled with dubious claims, shares all the weaknesses of the Rudd plan but few if any of its strengths, and puts naked state self-interest ahead of the need for a proper rejig of the system?
The Daily Telegraph
Tony Abbott: Rudd’s hospital debacle goes from bad to worse
The Victorian system is not perfect but, on nearly all assessments, works much better than the systems north of the Murray.
Brumby is positioning himself for his own election later this year.
The thing is, all it really does is ask for more money without any trade-off. And in this case, more unaccounted for money for the states — thus states that cannot manage money, or deliberately redirect it to other things can continue on their merry way.