PM makes last-ditch bid on health

Key states are refusing to budge on the GST, but a deal on pooled health funding is
looking increasingly likely as Prime Minister Kevin Rudd heads into a meeting with
premiers and chief ministers on Monday.
Even so, the prime minister's prospects for success on his terms seem slim.
There was little hope on Sunday that a handful of states were prepared to buckle to
his proposal for the commonwealth to seize 30 per cent of GST revenues in return for
taking control of 60 per cent of hospital funding.
However, the commonwealth and states appeared to be inching closer to agreement on a
way to pool funds to be dedicated to health.
Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon signalled the government could be willing to
agree to the states' proposal that they commit funds to health spending, rather than
the commonwealth seize the GST.
"The states are prepared to countenance ensuring that health money is protected from
expenditure elsewhere," she told the Ten Network.
"I think it is a positive step.
"We are prepared to talk more with the states and territories "
But Ms Roxon said it could not be a "mock pool" that allowed state treasuries to
continue business as usual.
As he headed into a meeting of premiers and chief ministers on Sunday evening,
Victorian Premier John Brumby, the fiercest critic of the Rudd plan, suggested it
was one area where consensus was possible.
"I think there's a fair bit of movement towards the idea of a pooled funding
arrangement," he told reporters.
NSW Premier Kristina Keneally indicated the issue was discussed when she met Mr Rudd
on Sunday afternoon.
Funding remains the key sticking point ahead of a Council of Australian Governments
(COAG) meeting on Monday, where Mr Rudd wants leaders to sign up to an
intergovernmental agreement. Otherwise he threatens to call a referendum.
Mr Brumby is the fiercest critic of the GST clawback by the federal government.
"What won't be agreed is the arrangements under which the prime minister proposes to
take the GST from the states, take it to Canberra and then recycle it back," he told
Sky News.
It's a position shared by NSW.
"We want to retain our GST," NSW Premier Kristina Keneally told ABC TV.
Heading into the meeting with colleagues, Ms Keneally continued to insist the GST
plan was a "detrimental outcome" for taxpayers.
"We are not going to sign up to a plan that doesn't address our concern about the
integrity of our budget," she told reporters.
But Treasurer Wayne Swan believes the public wants to know without doubt where its
GST money is going.
"When they're paying their GST, (they) want to know that a third of that GST ... is
going to health," he told the Nine Network.
Aside from Ms Keneally, Mr Rudd met leaders from Queensland, South Australia and the
Northern Territory as he continued his last ditch bid to win the states and
territories over to his ambitious reform agenda.
Mr Rudd admits the path ahead will be tough but stood firm on the commitment he'd
made to the Australian people.
"We intend to work with the premiers and the chief ministers through the detail of
this when we gather together in Canberra tonight and tomorrow," he told reporters in
Nowra after visiting the local hospital.
"It'll be a tough negotiation but I am absolutely determined that we deliver better
health and better hospital services for all Australians.
"I was elected to do that. I take that responsibility seriously. I intend to get on
with it."