The release today of the Opposition's budget costings has done nothing to explain the massive hole in their health funding.
Deputy Premier and Health Minister Ian Taylor said cuts to health funding under the Opposition were the equivalent to the closure of King Edward Memorial and Fremantle Hospital.
"The Opposition is attempting to dupe the public by pretending to be ignorant of the real implications of its health policy," Mr Taylor said.
"Today's budget figures show that no provision has been made for growth in health expenditure, except for money they would take out of the system under what they are calling improvements to efficiency ($116 million).
"This amounts to more than 13 per cent of our total hospital budget or about nine per cent of the total health budget.
"It is time they came clean and told us what programs will be axed to make these savings. This so-called total costings document confirms our worst fears because they are relying on a spurious claim of inefficiency to fund their health promises.
"This even extends to their expedient promise of a cardiac unit at Fremantle for which they have made no provision other than the capital cost - the hospital will have to find the $4 million a year to run the unit from its own budget.
"This is all compounded by the great uncertainty surrounding the implications of Fightback on our health system."
