Australian healthcare: purposeful reform or  three more years of political rhetoric?

Van Der Weyden, Martin B

doi:10.5694/j.1326-5377.2004.tb06475.x

Topics

Health statistics say we’re doing well, but our healthcare system is in crisis; we need more than just another report

Australians have never enjoyed such good health as they do now. Our life expectancies reach well beyond the biblical ideal of “threescore and ten”, and we rank among the top four in the world’s longevity league.1 However, there is a caveat: the poor health and short lives of Indigenous Australians continue to be a blot on the nation’s psyche.

The Medical Journal of Australia, Sydney, NSW.

Correspondence:

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4. New South Wales Auditor-General’s report. Performance audit. Waiting times for elective surgery in public hospitals. Sydney: The Audit Office of New South Wales, 2003. Available at: www.audit.nsw.gov.au/perfaud-rep/Year-2003-2004/WaitingLists-Sept2003/waitinglists-contents.html (accessed Nov 2004).
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