The Newman government’s former assistant health minister has said the Liberal National party (LNP) was deceiving voters on hospitals, saying its touted achievements are a cover for privatisation which benefits party donors.



Dr Chris Davis has offered a “second opinion” on Newman’s election promise of 2,650 more health workers, contingent on asset sales.

On Thursday, Newman announced a $583m health plan delivering 1,700 extra nurses, 490 doctors and 464 other health positions over three years, dwarfing Labor’s promise for 400 more nurses over four years.

The health minister, Lawrence Springborg, said Queensland’s public health system was in a “parallel universe” to that the LNP inherited from Labor.

Springborg and Newman quoted statistics showing patient waiting times in emergency rooms, ambulances, as well as for elective surgery and dental work, had been slashed. Springborg said Queensland had become “an exemplar of health performance right across Australia”, with the LNP “making a real difference” and “taking hospitals to the next level”.

However, Springborg’s former offsider Davis – who quit parliament last year – told Guardian Australia that the government had cut waiting lists by “contracting out an enormous amount to the big private groups, many of whom are also LNP donors”.

Federal donor records show Ramsay Healthcare, which has increasingly taken public patients at its Greenslopes hospital in Brisbane and elsewhere, gave $300,000 to the federal Liberal party and $10,000 to the LNP between 2011 and 2013.

Davis said that the real underinvestment in public health was shown by the fact that the new $1.4bn Lady Cilento children’s hospital booked patients using an antiquated “DOS-based” software system.

The Australian Medical Association’s state president, Dr Shaun Rudd, echoed the comment, saying doctors had “one hand tied behind their back because they are swamped with paperwork and our public hospital computer systems come from the dark ages”.

Rudd welcomed promises of more staff from both the LNP and Labor but said new doctors needed “the resources and kit they need to provide the best possible care”.

Davis features in a new election advertisement for health union Together, in which he says it is “absolutely clear to me that the Newman LNP government is moving to privatise parts of our public health system”.

Together union secretary Alex Scott told Guardian Australia that the LNP’s own health blueprint showed at least some of the promised jobs would actually go to the private sector.

Davis told Guardian Australia that the slashed waiting times were also due in large part to federal funds, which would soon run dry. He said LNP claims of extra jobs were deceiving because they came after deep cuts of health workers in 2012.

Davis said his great disappointment was that the government “barely touched the opportunity” for real efficiency gains in public hospitals, where billions of dollars were still wasted.

“You don’t address it by having a very aggressive command and control approach to healthcare teams, which is what the Newman LNP government was trying with the doctor contracts,” he said.

Davis was sacked by Newman after he broke ranks over the LNP’s conduct in its contract dispute with doctors. He later quit parliament in protest at a range of issues around the government.

Davis has already made an election advertisement with the Wilderness Society, telling reporters upon its release that voters should “be wary of sociopaths”.

He said it was wrong for the LNP to make its broader election promises contingent on asset sales, which amounted to “inducements or even bribes to the public”.

“Once you’ve actually cashed in the assets – it’s just as bad as debt – what are you going to do? Pay these extra health workers for one year, two years? Where does that leave us – lost the asset and the money’s gone,” he said.

Davis said he thought it was foolhardy to be putting into private hands power assets that were of increasing strategic importance in view of long term climate change.

“I’ve got an MBA [Masters of Business Administration] and I call the sale of our poles and wires a capitalist’s dream and a consumer’s nightmare,” he said. “You might see some short-term benefit from extra health workers or sports stadiums but there’s no doubt it’s going to cost us much more as a community to do that.”