Yes The States do deserve lots of criticism for their failure to fix the health system. At a Federal level PM Howard did very little to make the states perform over his long tenure so I think it a little unfair to criticise the current Federal Government who made it clear that if the States fail then the feds will intervene. By contrast PM Howard only took action just before the last election in a desperate bid for re-election by proposing a takeover of only the Mersey hospital that just happened to in a very marginal seat. What a debacle that turned out to be and I could be wrong he didnt win that seat and in fact he lost his own. But I do agree Kevin Rudd politics aside, has to apply pressure on the States to markedly improve the health system.
