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

I thank the member for Moreton for the question about health reform. He has had a small taste of investments in health reform in his electorate already with the announcement of the Brisbane Southside GP superclinic. The University of Queensland is involved in that very important service which will be delivered to those communities in Moreton and the surrounds. The Commonwealth has released its historic national health reform plan, which is going to establish the National Health and Hospitals Network, which is funded nationally and run locally. Of course, our plan builds on two years of reform work already undertaken. The Rudd government is very proud of that work, which is already delivering benefits in hospitals, to the workforce, in preventative care in primary care and in dental heath as we speak.

Unfortunately, though, not all of our plans have been implemented, as a number of them have been met with obstruction and game playing by the Liberal Party in the Senate. I would like to go through a short list of shame for the Liberal Party and their approach in the Senate. Early in our term they delayed closing the alcopops loophole for more than 12 months at the bidding of the distilling industry. They tried to block changes to the Medicare levy surcharge which were designed to provide relief to low-income earners. They backed the ophthalmologists when the government tried to adjust rebates for simple procedures. They rejected our sensible reforms to the private health insurance rebate—which, as the Treasurer has already mentioned, is costing the budget $2 billion over the forward estimates. And they are stalling the preventative health agency bill.

Just last week we heard some worrying further reports of the rorting of the chronic disease dental scheme by some dentists and some GPs. Since this scheme began in November 2007 we know of a doctor who has referred approximately 13,000 services and one dentist who has received approximately $4 million in benefits This scheme was originally projected, as the Treasurer has mentioned, to cost $377 million over four years; instead, it is actually costing close to that per year and over $800 million in the last two years alone. The government have attempted to close this flawed scheme twice, but the Liberal Party has blocked both of our attempts. Our proposed alternative scheme would provide around a million dental services and treatments to needy Australians if the Liberals would stop blocking our attempts to implement it.

Again this week in the Senate the coalition gets the chance to pass a landmark nursing and midwifery package. This will provide for the first time Medicare rebates and prescribing rights under the PBS for our hard-working midwives and highly skilled nurse practitioners. We know that the Leader of the Opposition and the shadow health minister are anti-nurse. They have not agreed to pass this legislation. They have been delaying it at every turn, and if they did support nurses, they would have supported the passage of this important piece of legislation through the Senate by now. I highlight not only that this landmark reform is being delayed and mucked around by those opposite but also that, while on 1 July we would for the first time ever have been introducing a Commonwealth funded insurance package for midwives, that cannot happen if this legislation is not passed this week. It will be the Liberal Party who are being anti-nurse and anti-midwife by blocking that legislation. We need it to pass this week. It is the opportunity to show that you are not anti-nurse. We call on the Liberal Party to support this legislation, allow the insurance product for midwives to be passed and stop blocking these important reforms for thousands of nurses and midwives across the country.

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