Rudd hoping states catch ACT's bug

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd will no doubt be hoping the ACT's last-minute decision to sign up to his health and hospitals reform plan is contagious.

ACT Chief Minister Jon Stanhope met with Mr Rudd at The Lodge in Canberra on
Saturday, the pair literally stopping to smell the roses after coming to an
agreement on Labor's controversial health system overhaul.
The prime minister wants all states and territories to throw their support behind
his plan by Monday's Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting - and time is
running out.
"I'm pleased to say we've reached agreement on the content of this plan with the
chief minister in the lead up to what will be a very important meeting," Mr Rudd
told reporters.
"I thank the chief minister for his cooperative approach, many of the premiers are
working in exactly this direction."
They're optimistic words from the prime minister, who has less than 48 hours to get
three recalcitrant states - Victoria, NSW and Western Australia - to sign on as
well.
NSW Premier Kristina Keneally is still unhappy Mr Rudd wants to keep 30 per cent of
GST revenues, in return for the Commonwealth becoming the major funder of public
hospitals.
"It would be very difficult for us to contemplate a retention of GST funds by the
Commonwealth," she told Sky News.
"It breaks apart the inter-governmental agreement we all signed up to just over a
year-and-a-half ago."
Mr Rudd warned that left only one, unpalatable option.
"The alternative is leaving those monies in the hands of state and territory
bureaucrats who may not use it for health and hospitals," he said.
"That's the old system. We are not going to be party to the old system. We have a
new system."
Mr Stanhope said he accepted that to help the nation's ailing public health system,
change was necessary.
"Every state and territory will tell you all the time that current arrangements for
the funding of health care are simply unsustainable," he said.
"We grasped the opportunity ... in a positive way."
Mr Stanhope admitted he held some concerns about the plan, but felt confident they
would be dealt with in time.
"Pathways to resolving those issues have been determined and on the strength of
that, I am more than happy today to commit to the national health agreement that the
prime minister will be bringing to COAG," he said.
Not everyone is willing to take Mr Rudd on his word alone.
The NSW Medical Staff Executive Council has asked for more time to be allocated to
the negotiations.
But the prime minister slammed the suggestion, saying a referendum - not more
talking - was on the agenda if an agreement could not reached.
"The work has been done. The plan is clear. It's here, it's in black and white.
We're up for decision," he said.
"There are no more excuses for delay. Working families want us to get on with the
business of improving their health care services now."
Meanwhile, the only Liberal government in the land - WA - reported their hospitals
were already often treating and discharging emergency department patients within
four hours without Mr Rudd's new suite of policies in place.
"These results ... are proof that through innovation, good management and good
staff, WA has one of the best health systems in the nation," Health Minister Kim
Hanes said.
Outside the COAG cauldron, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott dubbed hospitals the new
climate change, and the prime minister's plan a "moonbeam from the larger lunacy".
"He might get some kind of symbolic agreement next Monday but ladies and gentleman
take my tip, the coming COAG will be Copenhagen revisited," he told party faithful
in Victoria.
"It will be testimony to this prime minister's inability to see things in
perspective, his inability to deliver an outcome and most of all - his inability to
work with people."
Discussions among state and territory leaders will continue on Sunday.