Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Ageing) Share this | Hansard source

We welcome this small win for common sense. This has certainly been a case of great bungling by the minister and by the government. The motion today is a result of the work of the coalition and crossbench senators who successfully fought to amend the extended Medicare safety net legislation so that the Rudd government must seek parliamentary approval to make any changes into the future. This is an important safeguard for patients across the country who rely on the protection of the safety net to ensure affordable access to quality health care. Indeed, in a joint statement by Mr Rudd and Nicola Roxon on 22 September 2007, it was stated:

With about one million people each year receiving some cost relief from the safety net, Federal Labor will not put more pressure on family budgets by taking that assistance away.

This was just another promise that the Prime Minister and the health minister had no intention of honouring. Following coalition questioning of the figures used by the minister, the government was forced into negotiations with patient groups and doctors regarding the changes. Minister Roxon was eventually forced into a backflip on the caps on IVF treatment. Increases in Medicare rebates, increases in the safety net caps and the addition of new Medicare items now mean that those seeking IVF treatment will not be forced to pay thousands of dollars more in out-of-pocket expenses.

Despite increasing the caps and the Medicare rebate for a number of items, the minister still claims that the government will generate exactly the same savings, casting more doubt over the assertions and calculations. I quote media release of 8 September this year by the Minister for Health and Ageing:

The restructured items and caps achieve the same savings announced in the 2009-10 Budget ($451.6 million over 4 years).

The coalition welcome the removal of item No. 42740—‘Injection of therapeutic substance into the eye’—which was only removed after significant pressure was applied by the coalition and the crossbench in the Senate. This measure would have had a significant impact on the treatment of macular degeneration, through the injection of the drug Lucentis into the eye. The safety net reimburses patients, not doctors, and the Rudd government tried to shift the cost for the treatment of macular degeneration to patients. Treatment of MD with Lucentis is only available at a limited number of public hospitals. It is not available in New South Wales. The patients who could not afford the increased cost may have stopped treatment and risked blindness. The $16 million in savings associated with this measure is insignificant when compared to the waste and mismanagement in other areas of the Rudd government’s spending. It would have had a considerable impact on patients, with some unnecessarily going blind as a result. It would have meant an increase in falls, fractures and associated hospitalisations for older Australians in particular, and that is why this government should be exposed for the frauds that they are in relation to health. This government promised a lot at the last election. They promised to fix hospitals and they promised to fix the health system. They have not done anything in that direction. This humiliating backflip by Minister Roxon today is further evidence that this government are not serious about health. We welcome the government’s backflip. We are sorry that it took so long but, in the end, I am happy that the coalition, with the assistance of the crossbench senators were able to force the government’s hand.

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