I am honoured and humbled to be sworn in today as Minister for Health in the Morrison Government.
It is a role with immense responsibility, touching the lives of every Australian and I am delighted to continue my work which is improving the health of all Australians.
The last week has been a challenging time for the Government but under the leadership of Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Deputy Leader Josh Frydenberg we have two colleagues who possess all the qualities needed to lead our nation into the future.
Both are outstanding people and leaders in every respect and they have my full support.
I believe they represent the next generation of Liberal leadership and will together provide a long period of healing, unity and stability.
In particular the Prime Minister and Josh Frydenberg represent the values we share as Australians, including the fundamental belief that everyone should have a fair go in life.
Over the last 18 months we have been able to make tremendous progress in health, delivering record funding for hospitals and Medicare, subsidising breakthrough new medicines such as Opdivo and life-saving treatment for spinal muscular atrophy, boosting mental health services and investing significantly in medical research.
I particularly look forward to working with the Prime Minister on our combined passions of mental health, medical research, supporting our new hospital agreement and working with our GPs and specialists on strengthening Medicare and the listing of new medicines.
I welcome the Prime Minister’s commitment to addressing chronic illness.