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

She says now, ‘Too late.’ There was no rotavirus vaccine between 1983 and 1996. I did not hear any hysterical speeches about rotavirus last winter or the winter before. I would like to see a rotavirus campaign for this winter. If we do consider this matter—as I am sure we will before the end of March—and, if the recommendation of the PBAC is accepted by cabinet, it will then be in the hands of the states, as these things normally are. I certainly want to work with the states to get this vaccine out there into the community as quickly as possible. I can give no fairer answer than that.

I do not believe there is anything that any reasonable observer or any fair-minded critic could legitimately hold against this government on the issue of rotavirus or on vaccines generally. Let us not forget that, back in 1996, the federal government spent $13 million on vaccines. In the last financial year, from memory, we spent something like $250 million on vaccines. In the early 1990s, the childhood immunisation rate in this country was 53 per cent; today the childhood immunisation rate is well over 90 per cent.

Let us go through some of the other issues that were raised by the shadow minister for health. I accept that there are spiralling health costs. Health costs go up, just like other costs in our community go up, and obviously no-one likes it. Who is happy when, for argument’s sake, their private health insurance premium goes up 4½ per cent? Of course people are unhappy about that. But I tell you what: they are a lot less unhappy than they were when it was going up by 11 per cent a year on average. If I am such an incompetent health minister because under my stewardship health insurance premiums have gone up by 4½ per cent, what kind of incompetence was there in this parliament when Labor ministers for health saw premiums go up by 11 per cent a year? Fair cop! If members opposite had been able to keep premiums to one per cent, two per cent or three per cent of CPI, and I came in and it was 4½ per cent under me, I would be prepared to stand here and say, ‘Yes, not a very good job.’ But when members opposite had average increases of 11 per cent—I think one year it was over 20 per cent—and this government has kept the average to about five per cent over 13 years, please let us not have the kind of sanctimony that we had from the shadow minister today.

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