Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Bonner for his question. I can assure him and the House that the Howard government strongly supports Australia’s great Medicare system. It is not perfect but it is at least as good as any health system anywhere in the world. The principal reason that the Howard government is undeniably the best friend Medicare has ever had is that many members opposite now want to reform Medicare out of existence. Those who want to reform Medicare out of existence start with none other than the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, the former shadow minister for health, the member for Lalor, who has been a consistent supporter of a single funder in place of Australia’s existing health programs. In May 2004, she said to the Tasmanian AMA:

The principal characteristic of a unified national health system is that existing Commonwealth health monies—

that is, Medicare, the PBS, aged care funding and healthcare agreement money—

are combined with—

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