Ms BIRD (3:21 PM) —My question is to the Minister for Health and Ageing. Will the minister update the House on the government’s initiatives to tackle cancer in our community? What risks are there to those initiatives, particularly in the Illawarra and New South Wales South Coast regions?

Ms ROXON (Minister for Health and Ageing) —I thank the member for Cunningham for her question. It was very appropriate, because I know that she enthusiastically welcomed the government’s announcement of a regional cancer facility in her electorate—$12 million for the Illawarra. It is something that has long been needed and is one of a number of regional cancer centres that have been announced across the country. Today, the 20th announcement was made—$1.8 million to the ACT. It is one of the smaller investments but is a very important one. It will fund accommodation facilities, particularly for those people travelling from the broader south-east in the electorate of Eden-Monaro and those surrounds, for people that have to come to Canberra for services and often struggle with finding accommodation. These are very important projects that the government has been proud to announce. The member for Gilmore would be interested in this question as well, because a $23 million investment is being made in establishing a Shoalhaven regional cancer centre. This project will fund a linear accelerator, a CT scanner, eight chemotherapy chairs and 10 patient accommodation places.

Opposition members interjecting—

Mr Tuckey —When is it going to happen?

Ms ROXON —I have not noticed, despite the overwhelming support for the need for these investments, any support coming from those opposite. In fact, I can hear members opposite yelling out, ‘When will this happen?’ It did not happen under the previous government for 12 years. We have now invested $560 million in more than 20 projects across the country. What we fear, and I think the member for Gilmore should fear, is that we have no promise from those opposite that this money will be honoured, that these commitments will be honoured, under a Liberal government. We have reason to be dubious about whether they will be honoured, because the Leader of the Opposition pulled a billion dollars out of our hospital system. He already in the budget reply has promised to pull another $800 million out of the system. The shadow minister for health, on Friday, committed to withdrawing another $450 million from the budget because they do not support our diabetes initiatives. So members like the member for Gilmore need to be standing up and committing to these projects, need to be standing up for their communities and need to be making sure that the Leader of the Opposition, who was a risk to health expenditure when he was in the portfolio, allows these important projects to continue.

There is a legitimate question about when these investments will be delivered. Cancer investments take a very long period of time. The member that wants to interject will remember that in 12 years his government did not commit to any of these investments. I would be surprised if the member for interjecting—he probably is the member for interjecting; nevertheless, I do not think that is the name of his seat—the member for O’Connor, would not welcome $22 million going to regional cancer services in Albany, Northam, Narrogin, Geraldton and Kalgoorlie or $23 million going to the St John of God Hospital in Bunbury. I would have thought the member for Forest would also be welcoming this. We could go through the very long list.

The point I am making, however, is that the Leader of the Opposition has not committed to protect this expenditure. He has already on his tab—his snatch and grab list of what he is going to do with our health expenditure—pulled $1.2 billion out of the system. We fear that these important cancer investments are next. If those backbenchers who stand to benefit from these investments do not get on quick smart to the Leader of the Opposition to tell him that this money should be protected, these long-term vital investments may not be made. That would be a tragedy, because the reason the government is making these investments comes down to one very important fact: if you are an Australian who lives in rural and regional Australia and you get the dreadful news that you have a diagnosis of cancer, your chance of surviving is three times worse than if you are a person in the city who gets that same diagnosis. That is not good enough. It is an embarrassment for a country like Australia. It is the reason that $560 million is being invested in regional cancer centres. We would like to see those opposite standing up for regional Australia for once and agreeing that this money will be protected by any future government.