Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I would say to the honourable gentleman who has just intervened that seniors and pensioners use the public hospital system and therefore what they want is a public hospital system which they can get proper access to. When we were recently in the electorate of the honourable member for Kingston, when we had our community cabinet down there, some senior Australians who are finding it very difficult to get elective surgery came to visit me. Our response to that, rather than to perpetuate 12 years of blame game, is to come up to the mark and ask: what can we do to partner with state governments on that? We have provided, for persons such as those in Kingston, a $600 million fund to help slash elective surgery waiting lists—$150 million already to deliver 14,000 extra procedures. That is practical action, concrete action to help Australians, including senior Australians, to deal with their healthcare charges.

As to the other part of the question which the honourable member raised, can I go to the future of the Medicare levy surcharge. In 1997 the $50,000 threshold captured the top eight per cent of single-income earners—and there they left it. By 2010 this $50,000 threshold will capture the top 45 per cent of single-income earners. This is basically a huge grab for money on their part. That is what it is about and therefore what we are saying is that we need to look after those middle-income earners of Australia.

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