Playing pass the responsibility
A federal system of government (ie. a system of state and commonwealth governments) has many advantages. One of its disadvantages, however, is the ability of a government to pass responsibility or blame for various defaults to another government (eg. commonwealth to state and vice versa). The game of pass the responsibility is more likely to be played when the state and commonwealth governments are of different ideological persuasions…or if one of them is facing an election.
Thus, it is little wonder that this game is being played out again, over the state of Australia's healthcare system. Newly released reports indicate that elective surgery waiting times have gone up since 1999 and the state of dental health across the country is such that one in five Australians have moderate or severe gun disease and about a third avoid going to a dentist because of the high costs involved. Poor dental health can have significant consequences on physical and metal wellbeing and can lead to the patient requiring hospitalisation or contracting fatal infections.
Having dumped the commonwealth dental health program upon being elected in 1996, the Howard government now blames the deplorable condition of dental health in Australia on the States. Tony Abbott accused the States of acting like "glorified beggars" or "spoilt children", saying that "dental waiting lists remained high across the country" and that "these remained a state responsibility."
One might have thought that a nation-wide problem suggests that something may need to be done on a federal level, but passing the responsibility to the states is obviously a more attractive option. Kevin Rudd promised to re-establish the commonwealth dental health program, as part of the emphasis on preventative health. Whether that would ameliorate the problem is unclear, but this approach is likely to be more productive than the finger pointing that the government is engaging in.
It is little wonder that the governments' approach to the question of waiting lists for elective surgery was basically the same - denying that under the federal-state agreement, the commonwealth government underfunded the hospitals by $1.1 billion per year, shifting the responsibility back to the States.
Who is right and who is wrong is not the question. Perhaps both levels of government are at fault. But one thing is certain - our health is too important to play a game of pass the responsibility, even in an election year.
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