Question time suspended

The federal government has taken the unusual step of suspending question time to put Opposition Leader Tony Abbott on the spot on the issue of hospitals and health reform.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was putting the boot into the opposition on Thursday, questioning whether or not it supported the government's proposed hospitals reform.

"The opposition leader remains stoically silent," Mr Rudd exclaimed during question time.

Mr Abbott interrupted to say he'd be happy to speak on health - an offer the government was quick to take up.

Government 'lying about Howard'

Leader of the House Anthony Albanese moved that the opposition leader immediately speak for 10 minutes on the issue.

As quickly as Mr Abbott got to his feet he was forced to withdraw his comment after immediately claiming the government should "stop telling lies".

"They should stop telling gross untruths about the record of the Howard government," he said.

"Every single year between 1996 and 2007 health and hospital funding went up in this country."

Opposition backbenchers supported their leader by holding up graphs apparently showing that health and funding had indeed gone up during the Howard government.

Abbott on the back foot

Mr Abbott defended his time as health minister saying the government was able to increase bulk billing to 80 per cent and introduce the Medicare safety net.

"I don't claim to be the world's greatest health minister, because I'm not that conceited," he said.

"I just say was a better health minister than anyone on the other side of this parliament at this time."

Mr Abbott said Mr Rudd abolished local hospital boards when he was a top public servant in the Queensland government during the early 1990s.

Support for local control

"This was typical of this hypocrite and phoney who we have in this highest elected office in this country, who stands up, puts his hand on his heart and says `I've always supported local control of public hospitals'," the opposition leader told parliament.

"Wrong. Wrong. He abolished the public hospital boards which had done substantially a good job in Queensland for many decades as almost the first thing he did."

The government's health reforms propose having hospital networks run one to four area hospitals from mid-2012.

The government's hospitals reform should not be trusted because it raised too many questions, Mr Abbott said.

"How can we be confident that this prime minister will be any better using that GST money on health than he was using tax funding on home insulation?

"If his own Labor premiers don't trust him, why should I trust him and why should the Australian people trust him?"

Reform support unclear

Mr Rudd responded first by saying: "It's good to have Mark Latham back ... at the dispatch box."

He said it had taken a challenge from the government to have Mr Abbott say something about health.

He again told the opposition to come clean on whether it ultimately supported the plan to reform the nation's hospitals.

Mr Abbott's position was "give me a fence to sit on for a few more weeks, a few more months, wait to see whether the weathervane turns," Mr Rudd said.

"And the leader of the opposition knows a lot about weathervanes ... (it) constitutes his moral compass."