West Australian Health Minister Kim Hames has rejected suggestions he reversed a decision to close a maternity unit in Perth's south, saying he'd never made a full commitment on the matter.
Dr Hames says Bentley Hospital, which delivers more than 1000 babies a year, is "a bit old" but still provides excellent service and any decision to close it will be made by the minister of the day in 2018.
"People are talking about a backflip - there has been no backflip because I never made the decision that it was going to close," he told reporters on Sunday.
"I was still considering that decision and reviewing it as I promised that I would."
The state government had planned to move midwives from Bentley to the new Fiona Stanley Hospital in Murdoch but only three or four had agreed to do so, Dr Hames said, as it required more training.
Bentley deals with uncomplicated deliveries whereas potentially problematic deliveries are handled at Fiona Stanley, which is struggling to secure enough midwives.
"To move more than 1000 deliveries a year from this hospital to that hospital when they were having so much difficulty didn't make sense," Dr Hames said.
Opposition health spokesman Roger Cook welcomed the decision, labelling it "a great victory for parents and bubs".
"We've always believed that it's important to keep Bentley Hospital open," Mr Cook said.
"We thought the decision by the Barnett government to close this hospital was callous - it was simply about cost-cutting."
Dr Hames accused the opposition of "politics of convenience", saying he inherited the closure plan, which was recommended in 2004's Reid Review under the previous Labor government.
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