Designing the structure for Australia's health system. Occasional Paper 2010 Number 1

Abstract

Public hospitals and their performance was the major health issue in the 2007 national election. The now Prime Minister, as Opposition leader, announced that he would develop a national reform plan 'designed to eliminate duplication and overlap between the States and the Commonwealth' and 'to move beyond the blame game'.1 He also stated his intention to hold a national referendum to allow the Commonwealth to take over the running of public hospitals if reform could not be achieved cooperatively with the States by the middle of 2009.