The costing had already been announced but today Kevin Rudd detailed just how he will spend it in an effort to slash hospital waiting lists across Australia's public hospital system. Rudd was in Grafton to announce a pledge of $600 million to deal with waiting lists for elective surgery, which he says currently include 25,000 people who have passed the recommended time for surgery.
"If we win (the) election what I want to see is money flowing as of January 2008, out to the states and territories, in order to make payments to get that 25,000 number down to zero by year's end," Rudd said.