Nicola Roxon (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Health) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you. Given that I am being provided with the time to do this, I understand that I am able to make any comments and ask any questions that I might wish to during this time. One comment that I am going to continue to make will be about the fact that it is apparent that the minister is not going to, in any way, provide any decent information to us about these issues.

Minister, I would like you to also answer some questions about the existing chronic disease program that the government has now committed several hundred million extra dollars to. It is my understanding that only 68 Tasmanians across the entire three-year period of the program have actually been able to access any benefit from this program. I would like the minister to confirm whether that is in fact true. Similarly, I would like to know whether or not it is true that only 657 Queenslanders across the entire three-year period have used this program. Obviously, the minister would be aware that there are currently 650,000 people on the public dental waiting lists and, given these extraordinarily low numbers, I ask again: how is it that the government reached an estimate of an anticipated 200,000 people using this same program in the coming three years? Those questions are the main questions in relation to the dental program and the minister might like to answer them in a group.

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