Coags Are Pending

No guarantees ahead for Kevin Foley

Speculation about Mr Foley's future intensified today as Port Adelaide Enfield mayor Gary Johanson confirmed he would "seriously consider" running as an independent for Mr Foley's seat in the event of a by-election.

Mr Foley is yet to make an announcement on his future, but has previously said he expected to leave politics at the same time as outgoing Premier Mike Rann, who will stand aside for Mr Weatherill on October 20.

Mr Weatherill remained cagey about Mr Foley's prospects of remaining on the front bench when quizzed on the matter today.

He said he had no idea whether the man he unsuccessfully challenged for the deputy premiership after last year's election intended to remain in politics.

"I don't know what Kevin's intentions are and they are matters for him," Mr Weatherill said.

"I'm not going to pre-empt what my Cabinet will look like.

"I don't know who will be offering to serve for the Cabinet and who the party will choose to be Cabinet ministers.

"I don't know whether he is going to remain in the Parliament, so it may not be a choice that I have to make."

Mr Foley resigned as Treasurer and Deputy Premier in February and now holds other portfolios, including Police and Emergency Services.

When pressed on whether he would like Mr Foley's talents on his front bench, Mr Weatherill said "if he is available I will give consideration to him, but it is not clear that he is even going to be available".

Speaking at the opening of Blair Athol North School, the Education Minister also said:

IT was appropriate for Mr Rann to represent the state at next week's Council of Australian Governments meeting in Canberra, despite the pending leadership change.

BACKBENCHERS Chloe Fox and Leon Bignall would make excellent Cabinet ministers.

HE would not comment on issues outside his portfolio areas until he became Premier.

COAG and the health reform that wasn't « Allan Takes Aim Blog

First published The Chronicle, Canberra, Tuesday 4 May 2010

Before COAG started Prime Minister Rudd told State and Territory Leaders his historical and radical reform of the health system depended on them giving him 30% of their GST revenue. The South Australian Premier quickly caved in but all the others said over my dead body. Despite their brave words all the others except for the Premier of Western Australia, accepted various bribes from the PM in return for 30% of their GST.

Among the many bribes the PM doled out was that he would provide thousands of extra hospital beds, as if only hospitals comprised the total heath system. What this statement conveyed to the many people anxiously waiting for a hospital bed to become available was that their waiting time would soon be over.

Had this been true, it would have been marvellous. Unfortunately and sadly, the many who thought they wouldn’t be waiting much longer would soon find out that it would be years before the promised extra beds would be available, by which time the probability is that they would have had to call on their local emergency services.

While everyone in health knows there is a shortage of beds they know also that there is a shortage of the myriad personnel needed to provide services to people currently in beds. And while thousands of extra beds sounds good, unless the shortage of personnel is addressed, the extra beds would be valueless.

Generously, the PM then promised to recruit the needed thousands of doctors, nurses and various other health professionals to overcome this problem without saying where such personnel would come from. One hopes he isn’t intending to recruit them from countries whose need for them is even greater than Australia’s?

But now that COAG has come and gone, what did it leave behind? What it left behind was many people wondering what the PM meant by historical and radical reform. If he thought that giving bigger bribes than usual was historical and radical, then he had been radical. Indeed, had the theme song for COAG been “Money is the root of all evil,” by conference end and because of the PMs munificence, the words would have been changed to: “Money is the root of all cures.

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