NSW Opposition Leader Peter Debnam today slammed the Iemma-Costa Labor Government for suggesting icons, like the Westpac Rescue helicopter service and NRMA Careflight helicopter service, don't save lives. 

In page four of a 'Factsheet' attached to a press release, under the heading 'Mythbusters' the Iemma-Costa Government states: "Myth – an icon can save a life. Fact – the doctors and ambulance paramedics who work on the helicopters are the life savers".

"I'd like the Premier and the Health Minister to look the patients of the Westpac and NRMA Careflight helicopters in the eye and tell them an icon didn't save their life," Mr Debnam said.  

"The very reason something becomes iconic is because it achieves a level of performance that commands the respect and admiration of the community, and that includes the remarkable people who save patients lives," he said.

"It's a message to every volunteer firefighter, lifesaver, and SES worker this summer that you’re an icon that Morris Iemma doesn't need.  

"These two helicopter services are icons because of the services they provide and the people who work on them.

"To suggest that when something becomes an icon that it has somehow outlived its usefulness to society is typical of the arrogant, bureaucratic mindset that infects the Iemma-Costa Labor Government.  

"Icons obviously mean nothing to Premier Iemma or his Health Minister no matter how well or how long they serve the people of NSW.

"The Iemma Government has form on trying to get rid of the icons of this State, who could forget their botched attempt to privatise the Snowy Hydro scheme.  

"All these things are icons for different reasons, but all have a place in the hearts and minds of the people of NSW because of what they represent and the vital functions they perform.

"Icons give people reason to feel a sense of dignity, honour and pride - they obviously mean nothing to the Iemma Government, whose only mantra is to satisfy the bureaucracy to which the state of NSW has become a slave," Mr Debnam said.