Fed: Premiers arrive for COAG meeting =4

AAP General News (Australia)
02-10-2006
Fed: Premiers arrive for COAG meeting =4

Mr Iemma called for a national action plan on mental health, although he said the finer
detail and funding could be worked through in the coming months.

"There has to be a recognition that there has been a national under-investment in young
Australians - young men and women wanting to be doctors, nurses, psychiatrists and psychologists,"

he said.

"And we have to leave today with an understanding that there has to be a national action
plan starting with investing in our own people".

On the subject of broader health funding, Tasmanian Premier Paul Lennon said his government
had put an additional $285 million into the health sector over the past five years.

But he said only $60 million had come from the Commonwealth over the same period.

"We can't begin to meet the expectations of Australian families unless state and federal
governments work closer together," he said.

South Australian Premier Mike Rann said the SA government had increased its funding
to hospitals by 35 per cent over the past two years alone, compared to a commonwealth
increase of just nine per cent.

"So what we want to see out of today is at least the start of a better partnership
between the federal government and the states," he said.

Mr Rann and Mr Beattie also will be seeking an increase in the number of commonwealth-funded
places for the training of doctors and associated health professionals.

"I'm going in hard today to see if we can get more places in our universities to train
doctors," Mr Rann said.

"We as a state government have recruited an extra 1,300 nurses ... and an extra 349
doctors, and we're having to go overseas to get them.

"What I would like to see is local people trained to be doctors so they can work in
South Australia."

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KEYWORD: COAG PREMIERS ARRIVE 4 CANBERRA

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