Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Mackellar, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Veterans' Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

The question I would like to begin with concerns the way in which the dental program is being administered and the appropriation for the dental services program. I understand that the way in which certain approvals are being given has resulted in dentists not being paid for as long as five months, whereas prior to your taking office, if an approval was required, they could ring someone called a dental adviser and be given immediate approval to lodge the claim for payment. The payment was then received in two to three weeks. But there is now a new system in place and there are accounts outstanding for five months and more. Could you tell me why the change has been made and how it can be rectified so that dentists are properly paid when they are quite prepared to accept the gold card or the white card in the appropriate circumstances?

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