Health headlines dying stages of election campaign

Perth Now

a day ago

Health has dominated the final days of Tasmania's snap election campaign, as major parties try to get undecided voters on board.
The island state is heading to the ballot box on Saturday for a second election in as many years after minority Liberal premier Jeremy Rockliff lost the confidence of parliament in June.
All signs point to another hung parliament, with the latest poll putting the Liberals ahead of Labor but both short of the 18-seat mark needed to reach majority.
Tasmania's health outcomes lag behind national averages on many metrics, with life expectancy the second worst of any Australian jurisdiction.
An ageing population and socio-economic disadvantage put significant pressure on the health system, according to a Primary Health Tasmania 2024 report.
Mr Rockliff says the Liberals would deliver a purpose-built $15 million medical precinct, including a mental health hub, in the Huon Valley south of Hobart.
It would feature 100 per cent bulk-billing GP appointments, as well as after-hours and weekend services.
Labor leader Dean Winter was in Launceston in the state's north to reveal the location of one of its 10 proposed TassieDoc bulk-billed GP clinics.
His party doubled their TassieDoc commitment to 10 clinics, after the Liberals matched their initial commitment to set up five clinics.
"It takes an election campaign and sensible policies to see them do anything about health," Mr Winter told reporters.
The state's rural doctors association has called for urgent action to address an "exorbitant" budget spend in the northwest on locum services.
Some $3.7 million per year could be saved if the health service permanently recruited GP emergency and GP anaesthetics instead of using locums, the association said.
The two party leaders, who have both made health announcements in recent days, will go head-to-head in the only debate of the campaign on Wednesday.
The Liberals hold 14 of 35 seats in the lower house, while the 11-year Labor opposition has 10.
The no-confidence motion in Mr Rockliff, put forward by Labor and supported by the Greens and three crossbench MPs, was critical of the state's ballooning debt.