Mr GREG WARREN(Campbelltown) (17:16): I move:
That the motion be amended by omitting all words after House and inserting instead:
(1)Notes the treatment on time in New South Wales Emergency Department is better under the Minns Labor Government than it was when the former Coalition Government left office.
(2)Notes that the Minns Labor Government takes the safety of staff, patients and visitors as a key priority, and as a result has increased the NSW Health security workforce, more than doubling the rate of growth compared to the former Coalition Government.
(3)Notes the NSW public health system was neglected by the former Coalition Government for over a decade who:
(a)planned to sack over 1,100 nurses;
(b)imposed a public private partnership on Northern Beaches Hospital and planned to do so for Maitland, Wyong, Goulburn, Shellharbour and Bowral hospitals; and
(c)refused to implement safe staffing in our emergency departments.
(4)Notes the Minns Labor Government delivered record investment of over $1.1 billion in 2026-27 across regional and rural health facilities, with $3 billion to be invested in the facilities over the forward estimates period.
(5)Opposes the reintroduction of a wages cap on the NSW Health system.
(6)Supports expanding access to healthcare, including the contraceptive pill and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder medication.
(7)Notes that under the Minns Labor Government the total regional health workforce has grown by 5,242 full-time equivalent positions or 9.9 per cent between March 2023 and June 2026.
Colleagues, we heard words such as "chaos"—
Mr Mark Coure: Crisis.
Mr GREG WARREN: Those opposite would know what a crisis is, because it is exactly what they caused for the health system in New South Wales. If they were not privatising it, they were putting a wage cap on our nurses. Even during the COVID pandemic, they said, "We would be lost without you nurses. By the way, we are going to cut your wages and put a cap on them." They are the cancer that infiltrated the New South Wales health system, and the Minns Labor Government is the cure, led by the Premier and the Minister for Health. I am not saying this because he is a good mate of mine, but Minister Park is one of the most engaging people I have met in my life. Under the former Coalition Government, one in four triage category 2 [T2] emergency patients at Western Sydney Local Health District began their treatment on time. At Blacktown Hospital, one in 10 T2 emergency patients began treatment on time in the April to June quarter of 2022.
Under the Minns Labor Government, Western Sydney Local Health District T2 treatment on time has improved to 41 per cent. Blacktown Hospital has improved to 36.6 per cent in this year's April to June quarter. That is despite the former Liberal-Nationals Government promising Rouse Hill hospital at three elections, beginning in 2015. They were all talk, no action. The only thing they did was take a wrecking ball to our health system and punish the very people who are the backbone of it—our workers, nurses, clinicians and physicians. Members opposite did not support the people who supported our patients.
Whether we are in Blacktown, Campbelltown, Dungog or Maitland—no matter where we go in New South Wales—members on this side of the House hear the painful stories of suffering patients in New South Wales. Those opposite have no legacy, other than the chaos and crisis that was caused by their wages cap. We saw nurses flee to the prosperous lands of the north in Queensland and to the south in Victoria. Why? So they could get a fair day's pay for a fair day's work. Members opposite have moved a motion criticising the Minns Labor Government for repairing the damage of their own making. We are the antidote. We are the cure for the cancer. We are fixing the problems of their creation. Their legacy is one of chaos, crisis and failure that left patients and their families hanging.
