Brendan O'Connor (Gorton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Industrial Relations) Share this | Hansard source

I hear the Special Minister of State, Mr Nairn, opposite, but it is not true. I have asked the 39 medical offices in my electorate whether they have taken up Easyclaim, and none of them at this point have taken up Easyclaim—not one. I have been told by the Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Mal Brough, that we will not need a Medicare office because we have this new system called Easyclaim. If that is the case, will the minister opposite tell me whether, given that there is a new system, he is about to close down every Medicare office in this country? If I do not need a Medicare office because of Easyclaim, clearly no electorate needs a Medicare office. Would you like to answer the question, Minister: would you close down every Medicare office in this country? Of course, he does not want to answer that. The fact is there has been total contempt and disregard for the constituents in my electorate. It is an electorate that deserves a Medicare office.

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