To the Honourable Speaker and Members of the House of Representatives assembled in parliament.

The Petition of certain residents of the State of Western Australia points out to the House:

The Federal Howard Government is refusing to give us our fair share of funding for the state health system in Western Australia.

We the undersigned believe that health is the most important priority for Government. We applaud the Gallop State Government for providing record levels of funding and increasing spending on health for the last two years.

However the Federal Government spends less on health per person in WA than in any other state.

At the same time they are ripping the heart out of Medicare, forcing more people to use state-funded hospital emergency departments.

We therefore call on the House to urge the Federal Howard Government to match the State's commitment to health and revise their new funding offer so that it keeps pace with the costs of running our health system.