Pyne questions funding’s

CAIRNS MP Rob Pyne has aired concerns that the “failure” in making the Family Birth Centre operational at Cairns Hospital is due to funding cuts.

“It is hard for someone on the outside to work out if that failure to become operational is owing to funding restrictions or maladministration, but there is the fear that it is owing to funding cuts,” Mr Pyne told Parliament on Thursday.

“Of course, this is occurring within the context of the last health board being sacked.

“The minister certainly said that that was about overspending the budget, but it seems clear to me that the budget was expended on worthwhile, valuable health services for my electorate.

“I would hate to think that we are seeing cuts to balance the budget when it simply would seem to me that, if other areas are in surplus, the needs in my region could be met by the transfer of funds.”