Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Howard government’s approach to health care is to blame someone else, anyone else, for any problem in the health system. The only rule the Howard government adheres to is to take no responsibility for any problem whatsoever in the health system. It is just blame, blame, blame. Whether the problem is doctor shortage or health workforce shortage, insufficient aged-care beds or Australians, usually elderly or children, waiting up to 10 years to have dental work completed, it is somebody else’s fault. It is no surprise that the Howard government’s favourite victim to blame is the state government, any state government, as long as it diverts the blame from John Howard and his merry men and women. The bad news for the Howard government is that the Australian people know that before it was elected there was a Commonwealth Dental Health Program that operated in Australia and a nearly non-existent waiting list for dental treatment.

At the time the Commonwealth Dental Health Program existed I was a state member of parliament and I know that people were able to see a dentist when they needed to see a dentist. I also know that when the Howard government was elected and that scheme was axed by this government immediately I had constituents coming to my office complaining that they could not see a dentist. These were elderly people that could not get dentures, could not have their rotting teeth removed from their mouths or filled. These were people who were suffering as a direct result of the Howard government.

When the Howard government was elected there was an 800-aged-care-bed surplus. Now let us compare the dental and aged-care bed situation. Firstly, the nearly non-existent waiting list has blown out to 650,000 Australians languishing on a dental waiting list. I will share with the parliament the experiences of two of my constituents. One gentleman, Eddy, had his teeth removed after waiting some considerable time. He then had to wait over 12 months to get dentures and for that time he lived on soup and other liquids. This does not appear to worry members on the other side of this House, the government. Another constituent, a gentleman who lives in Toukley, had only a top set of dentures and had been waiting for two years for his dentures. He was forced to live on soups and soft food. At the time I had to say that this was not good enough in a country like Australia.

Then we look at the aged-care bed situation. We now have an aged-care bed shortage in excess of 4,000. The Shortland electorate is a very old electorate, one that has got the 10th oldest population and the highest number of residents over the age of 65. In that electorate, covered by both the Hunter and the Central Coast, there is a shortage of beds in the Hunter area of 390 and, on the Central Coast, 596. Actually, in the two areas there is a greater shortage than the surplus that existed in the whole of Australia at the time the Howard government was elected.

Who is to blame? If you listened to the Howard government you would say that it was the state government. If you listened to the Howard government you would say it was anyone else other than them. The member for Mallee talked about the fact that people can take out private dental health insurance and can then see a dentist. The member for Mallee did not take into account the cost of private dental health insurance and also the fact that there is an enormous gap.

There has also been mention of elderly people being referred to as ‘bed blockers’ by the Minister for Ageing. I know that at any one time there are a large number of elderly people in our hospitals waiting for places in nursing homes. They are not bed blockers; they are elderly Australians that need to be placed in an aged-care home, people that should not be in beds in acute care hospitals. This government is responsible for that and it is time that it acted and ended the blame game. (Time expired)

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