John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Those who sit opposite talk about ending the blame game. You cannot end the blame game unless both sides of the federal compact discharge the responsibilities which are historically theirs. That is the complaint we have about the states and about the Labor Party in relation to these matters. If you look at health in the broad over the last few years, you can see that the Commonwealth has injected hundreds of millions of dollars into health care. The Labor Party complains about Medicare, yet bulk-billing rates are now back to record levels: they are at record levels for older people and they are at record levels for children under the age of 16. As far as dental services are concerned, the Commonwealth contributes some 30 per cent in rebate for private health insurance and we have increased the rebates for older people. The states are responsible for the dental care of their communities, and it is about time they carried out those responsibilities.

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