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

I want to take this opportunity to remind the House about some commitments that were made during the election last year. We announced that, if we formed government, we would put $290 million into a new Commonwealth Dental Health Program to help reduce the public waiting lists that have grown to over 650,000 people across the country courtesy of the neglect of those opposite. We also announced that we would be delivering a Medicare Teen Dental Plan, providing over a million eligible teenagers with access to preventative dental checks.

At the same time, we made public—in fact, we made clear in this House—that we would abolish the Howard government’s poorly targeted and failing chronic disease dental scheme. This is a scheme that as of June this year, despite its four years of operation, had not helped a single child under the age of 14 in all of South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory. This was a shameful, poorly targeted program under which a multimillionaire could get assistance but a pensioner with a toothache could not. We gave Australians a choice at the last election, and they chose our better targeted dental policies and an investment of $780 million into dental care. But the opposition’s economic vandalism—an affection, it seems, for more and more cheap and short-term politics in the Senate—is putting at risk these policies.

I would like to put on the table today the number of public dental services and the funding that was scheduled to go to each state and territory under the Commonwealth dental scheme that the opposition is putting in jeopardy: in New South Wales, over $90 million to pay for 327,000 extra services; in Victoria, over $72 million to pay for a quarter of a million extra services; in Queensland, more than $52 million to pay for nearly 200,000 services; in Western Australia, $23 million to pay for 82,000 services; in South Australia, $24 million to pay for more than 85,000 services; in Tasmania—including the electorate of the member for Bass, who asked the question—over $10 million for 30,000 services; in the Australian Capital Territory, nearly $5 million for 15,000 services; and in the Northern Territory, nearly $5 million for 10,000 services.

These very services that the public voted for are being put in jeopardy because some of the funds that were going to pay for them are being blocked by the opposition in the Senate. We made it clear that in funding our dental programs we would redirect some of the money from the Liberal scheme to the Labor program. We made a choice and so did the public. But it appears that it is impossible for those opposite to make that choice. I feel like we are back in the old days, with the Liberal Party opposing us putting money into public dental schemes. It is just like the old days—everything old is new; Brendan Nelson is on the same old bandwagon as John Howard and the Liberals are blocking money going into public dental services.

Initially they campaigned against our program, but now they are backing it. They are claiming that they can be economically responsible, but at the same time they want to continue with their old program. They just love to walk both sides of the street, but they cannot have it both ways. Their action is threatening our program. I say to them: when it comes to dental care, the Australian people were offered a choice. The Australian people made a choice. Why can’t the Liberals?

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