MR HEUSTON, in his letter to the editor published on May 28, mentions the $1.8 billion Health and Hospital Fund and the role that independents played during the hung parliament regarding hospital funding generally.

Some historical context may assist in understanding the issue.

The Health and Hospital Fund was established in 2009 to assist the states in relation to a backlog of capital expenditure on hospitals across the nation, and to act as part of the stimulus package, to encourage economic growth through the global financial crisis.

In 2010, during the negotiations regarding the formation of a minority government, Mr Abbott and Ms Gillard both agreed that regional health care had not received its fair share of capital funds from previous allocations of the fund.

It was clear that the states had skewed the federal funding to- wards metropolitan areas.

Rob Oakeshott and I were able to place a condition on funding rounds three and four of the Health and Hospital Fund, so that 100 per cent of that round would be allocated to country health services (as we  did with the $500 million Education and Investment Fund for regional universities and TAFEs).

That condition meant that the states had to spend the money on country facilities. 

Tamworth hospital was a recipient within the New England region, as were 134 other health services across regional Australia.

That is not pork barrelling, as Mr Heuston suggests – rather, it was a strict process via the state governments that gave country people their fair share for “shovel-ready” projects.

It is interesting to note that the National Party representatives voted against the source of funding which financed the Commonwealth share of the Tamworth hospital, but were delighted to stand in front of the new building when completed.

Mr Heuston also suggests that The Nationals weren’t involved in the removal of Mr Abbott as prime minister. 

Perhaps a read of Mr Joyce’s statements in Nikki Savva’s book, Road to Ruin, would clear up that illusion, where he says that if the Liberals hadn’t done the job by Christ- mas that they would step in and remove him as prime minister.