Natasha Griggs (Solomon, Country Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on the Health Insurance (Dental services) Amendment Determination 2012 (No. 1). Like the other members of the coalition, I am a strong supporter of investment into dental health and I support this disallowance motion that is before the chair.

While I am always an avid advocate of investment into dental health, I am very concerned about the Labor government's decision to close the Medicare Chronic Disease Dental Scheme as of 30 November this year. Why is it that this Labor government is closing down this highly successful scheme? It appears to me that perhaps it is playing politics with the dental health of Australians. Could it be because it was the then health minister and now Leader of the Opposition, Tony Abbott, who introduced the scheme that provided Medicare funded dental support to Australians?

Since its introduction in 2007, we have seen over $1.7 million in benefits spent in the Northern Territory, breaking down to over 15,000 services provided. That is a lot of services and it is a lot of money that Territorians have had invested in them, and I am very concerned that that is going to be taken away from them.

Across Australia, over one million Australians have benefited from the scheme—60,000 of these being children. I am very proud to be a part of that legacy. For me, this shows that this is a program that is working, and it is highly disappointing that it appears that this government has decided to take away the Medicare dental help for Australians purely because it was an initiative of the then health minister, Tony Abbott. I could understand if the scheme had not been a success, but it has been. Over one million Australians have benefited from this scheme. Now, under Labor's six-year proposal, the predicted number of services is equivalent to 20 per cent of what the health minister's Chronic Disease Dental Scheme provided in the last year alone. It is really quite distressing that Labor and the Greens are stopping the only dental scheme available to adults across the country just so they can shut down this program that was introduced, as I said, by the now Leader of the Opposition.

The dental health of those in my electorate and across the country should not be used to the Labor government's political advantage. As of 7 September, the new services provided under the Chronic Disease Dental Scheme have been stopped. From 30 November, the scheme will be closed altogether. The new scheme will not be introduced until 2014, which is after the next federal election. Can we trust this government to keep a promise after it has broken so many? It was this government that said at the last election that there would be no carbon tax under their government. But here we are in 2012 and we have a carbon tax under a Labor government.

I ask this Labor government to explain to Territorians why they will have a window of 19 months where there will be no Medicare dental scheme to provide dental treatment for adults in the Northern Territory. Not only does this bill not commence until 2014; it has not been funded. The government has announced a $4.1 billion scheme with no plans as to how it is going to pay for it. Quite frankly, this is not good enough. The people of the Territory and across Australia deserve better. This program has been demonstrated to have worked and it is really, really important for electorates like mine and that of the member for Riverina, who spoke earlier. Regional Australia needs programs like this.

I ask again: how can we trust this government to fund its program? Where will it get the money from? I call on the government to explain to the people of the Territory the $120 billion black hole. This Labor government has not delivered for the people of the Territory. How can we believe that it will fund this scheme? Territorians have lost their faith in Labor, and that is why after the last Territory election we now have a Country Liberal government. People know they can trust a conservative government. Life is always better under a conservative government.

Between these schemes, education reforms, additional aged care funding and border protection cost blow-outs, where is this Labor government going to get the money to fund this new scheme? The Australian people are not an endless credit card that this government can keep spending against. They do deserve better. It is only further proof for the Australian people that this Labor government has lost its way and is heading for a huge budget blow-out.

I am proud to stand here today, standing up for chronic disease sufferers. I am ashamed that this Labor government and the Greens are taking away access to dental treatment that is urgently needed. The people of Australia and throughout my electorate will be worse off, as they always are under a Labor government. Labor has stripped many Australians of dental health treatment. These people will simply not be able to afford dental care anymore. Labor should be hanging their heads in shame. As the member for Riverina said a few minutes ago, anyone who has a toothache had better go and get it fixed now, before the government shuts down this program altogether, leaving them waiting for another 19 months before they can get anything done, and that is if the program is actually implemented.

I am sickened by the thought that the government and the Greens will now force children to wait 13 months until they can once again receive dental care. We know that preventative care is so important, but here we are having a system shut down, taking away the opportunity to have preventative care. The Labor government has claimed that 3.4 million children ranging from two to 18 years will be eligible for $1,000 worth of services, capped over two years, under the new scheme. Under the current scheme adults and children receive $4,250 over two years. While the scheme is capped at $4,250, according to the department the average claim for the scheme has been around $1,700, although recent estimates suggest that the figure may have fallen as low as $1,200 per patient.

As a mother myself, I find it offensive to see children suffering. As I said, it is important to have preventative care. I think that by closing down this program you are taking away that opportunity. We know that Labor has lied to parents. Those opposite have promised dental services to—

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