South Australian citizens are among the “most in need” of the Labor party’s health reform as the state has one of the oldest populations on the mainland and thus a greater demand for health services, according to ALP Federal member for Hindmarsh in SA, Steve Georganas.

“My electorate is the oldest in the country in terms of demographic, so of course they’re the people that most use the health services,” Mr Georganas said. “This reform definitely brings to the fore shorter waiting times, which is really good, more GP clinics and more elective surgery.”

A shortage of GPs and elective surgeries has created longer waiting times in the past, Mr Georganas said.

“The increase of GPs will free up hospitals, people can go to GP clinics and more elective surgey means we’re putting more money in to ensure we can clear backlogs.”

While the opposition has criticised the Labor party’s proposal for a single national funding pool within the health sector, saying it will create another layer of bureaucracy, Mr Georganas denies this is the case.

“The whole idea is to stop the blame game by pooling the funds into one area,” he said. “There’ll be one particular level of government responsible, there’ll be particular waiting times with formulas of what they are etc. It’ll be a one stop shop.”