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

The 30 per cent rebate, as the shadow minister knows, is supported by the Rudd Labor government. It was supported at three elections, and it is being honoured, as promised, by the Rudd Labor government. I am quite happy to come in here and debate the shadow minister on any health issue that he is interested in debating, but I think, if we are going to do it, let us be honest with the community. There are choices that have to be made about the way we want to invest in our health system. There are choices that have to be made about what is setting up the system long term for the future.

We have started to build a future in the health system that people have not seen for many, many years because there was a national government that refused to be involved in long-term planning. Whether it was workforce, whether it was dental care, whether it was restructuring the relationships between the states and the Commonwealth—any example—the previous government walked away from those discussions. We are not going to walk away from those discussions. We are going to do the proper planning. We are going to make some hard decisions, of which this is obviously one, but we will be making those decisions based on how many people we can help, who are the most in need, where we are planning properly for the future and how we make sure that every health dollar, whether it is spent by the Commonwealth or spent by the states, is going to go to those who most need it—and we are going to make sure that our system is sustainable.

We can have a debate about the needs of the vulnerable, but unfortunately the members opposite do have to live by the record of their previous government. The shadow minister who now has responsibility for health has already become an expert because of his previous job and the way in which he dealt with those who were most vulnerable. If he wants to now pretend that he is the champion of the vulnerable, he has a lot of history to rewrite about what he did in Work Choices, bringing that baggage with him to this health portfolio. So do not come in here and lecture us about the choices that we have made that are going to help millions of Australians to get better dental care and that are going to set up a system long term that will be sustainable and will ensure that everybody into the future gets the access to the health care they need, because people—as the Prime Minister has said—simply will not believe you, Shadow Minister. They simply will not believe you.

There are many other things that we are proud of that already, in our first 100 days, we have provided in health care. This is the first time ever that the Commonwealth government has put money into reducing elective surgery waiting lists around the country. That decision of the Rudd Labor government is going to benefit 25,000 people.

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