During the last election Kevin Rudd put it to the nation – and I argued locally – that our health system would have to be seriously reformed to cope with a growing ageing population and the increase in health costs. Arguments between the Commonwealth and the States at the time were just a way of avoiding the real issues. I knew that at the State level health was consuming an ever-increasing proportion of the budget and putting real pressure on the capacity of the State Government to deliver other services. So the Reform Agreement on health and hospitals reached this week between the Prime Minister and the Premiers is of unusual importance to future of our nation.

The Australian Government is increasing health expenditure dramatically and will in future fund 60 per cent of building, equipment, teaching, training and services for public hospitals. Additional funding is to be provided over the next four years to train 6000 new doctors and to improve waiting times in emergency departments and for elective surgery.

However, Australia has a very high rate of hospitalisation and we need to do much better at keeping people out of hospital. This will happen in a number of ways. The new arrangements will end wasteful duplication when the Commonwealth takes all funding responsibility for GP and primary care services and all aged care services.

Medical professionals will have more say in the way their local hospital is run, through Local Hospital Networks. New organisations will be established at the local level to better co-ordinate health services in the community.

Of importance to me, the Federal Government will also take a greater role in funding mental health services and the provision of better co-ordinated care of people with mental health disorders.

This year marks 95 years since the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps landed at Gallipoli, Turkey, at dawn on April 25, 1915. Attendance at local commemorations is important – I never fail to be especially moved by the dawn service. It allows the community to come together to remember those who served and to see how the Anzac tradition is present in today’s forces.

This year thousands of Australians will be making the pilgrimage to the Gallipoli Peninsula to pay tribute to the Anzacs at the Dawn Service at Anzac Cove. Others will go to Villers-Bretonneux in France to attend the Dawn Service at the Australian National Memorial. Wherever you are on Anzac Day, take a moment to pause and reflect on the men and women who have served, and continue to serve to protect our country, especially the more than 102,000 who have made the ultimate sacrifice.