Strange bedfellows: Liberal leader Sussan Ley backs Roger Cook’s health funding plea

Sussan Ley has accused the Prime Minister of “crab-walking away” from a hospital funding deal with the States, and urged WA’s Premier to pull Anthony Albanese into line.

The Federal Opposition Leader took up the States’ fight over health on the final day of her latest visit west, while pressing the flesh at the Perth Royal Show in Claremont.

“If Premier (Roger) Cook is such a good friend of Anthony Albanese, and he tells everyone he is, he should be on the phone right now,” Ms Ley said.

“The Prime Minister is crab walking away from a commitment he made in 2023 that he would give State Governments ongoing certainty with five-year funding agreements.

“This is what we did in Government, but we’ve got a Prime Minister now who’s stepping away from that.”

States and Territories released a joint statement this week, after a meeting of the Council for the Australian Federation, accusing the Commonwealth of falling “tens of billions of dollars short” of its promises on health and the NDIS.

Federal Health Minister Mark Butler promised to cover 42.5 per cent of public hospital running costs by 2030 and 45 per cent by 2035, in a deal struck in late 2023.

State and territory leaders claim the share of federal funding would be closer to 35 per cent under the federal government’s latest offer.

As ambulance ramping hit a new all-time record on Tuesday, Mr Cook warned the current proposal is not good enough.

“This has been around pretty much all my life, as a shadow minister and as a minister and now as Premier, it’s time that we fix the funding agreement and move forward,” the Premier said.

For a brief moment, Opposition Leader Basil Zempilas appeared to agree with him.

“We’ve been making the case now for some time that the blockages in our hospital, of which some oversight has to be apportioned towards the Federal Government for the funding that comes with aged care,” he told reporters on Friday.

“Also the funding package that Sussan has spoken about, which now appears to be clouded in uncertainty.”

But, he said the Federal funding shortage didn’t excuse the Cook Government’s record on health.

“What I’m saying is Labor are in charge, and Roger Cook has it within his powers through his own budgetary surpluses, or through his relationship with the Federal Government, to sort it out,” Zempilas said.

Federal Health Minister Mark Butler insisted the Commonwealth’s $215 billion offer amounted to an extra $20b.

“We’ve put a very generous offer on the table,” he told Seven’s Sunrise on Friday.

“I get premiers always want more money, they always want more money from the Commonwealth, but they also recognise what else we’re doing in health.”