There were no ifs, buts or maybes when Prime Minister John Howard strode on to the grounds of the Mersey Hospital at Latrobe in Tasmania and announced that the Federal Government was taking it over to protect the good people of nearby Devonport from the intention of the Tasmanian Labor Government to downgrade its facilities.

Mr Howard revelled in the applause hospital staff and concerned local citizens gave to this saviour from the mainland who was preserving their community asset.

Mr Howard quickly chugged off on his election gravy train to other towns to make other promises and the people of Devonport must now be wondering if the promise to them will ever be kept. Certainly they are becoming aware that at best there will be a lengthy delay before any of the promised $45 million or so of federal taxpayer money is ever spent on their hospital.

The Federal Health Minister, Tony Abbott, you see, is the man to whom Mr Howard flick passed this particular project after its glorious announcement and Mr Abbott has become aware that actually running a public hospital is something his bureaucrats in Canberra have absolutely no experience of.

In the very best traditions of “Yes, Prime Minister” the public servants are stalling for time or, as Mr Abbott put it yesterday, conducting their “due diligence.”

What diligence is due when the State Government has offered to sell the hospital to the Commonwealth for $1 was not made clear. According to Mr Abbott the immediate hand over the Tasmanian Government wants is not practical.

“It can’t happen overnight. It was a little bit unreasonable for the Tasmanian Government to, as it were, have a hissy fit and say ‘okay, have it now’,” he said.

“They’ve got to allow us to do our due diligence, to talk to the relevant people, to gather the necessary information and then believe me, we [are] only too eager to take on this responsibility.”

In one sense the prevarication by the Federal Government might be good politics. By pushing out the time for the takeover well into next year, voters are being warned that they might miss out if the Coalition Government is not returned so vote Liberal in the very marginal seat of Braddon.

The risk is that the concerned citizens of Devonport will agree with Labor that if Canberra is not in control by election day the promised Federally funded hospital will turn out to be a non-core promise made by a tricky Prime Minister.

Labor Leader Kevin Rudd for once resisted the temptation to dive in and match a Howard promise and this morning he revealed why. On hospitals, Labor is going for the big lick with a promised $2 billion National Health Reform Plan.

The Rudd promise is to take all public hospitals off the hands of state governments within two years if a national plan to improve health care is not agreed to.

Now should that takeover come to pass we really will have an episode of “Yes, Prime Minister”!