Andrew Giles (Scullin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am pleased to be able to make a contribution to this matter of public importance debate that deals with two very pressing matters: firstly, our response to issues of preventative health and, secondly, the way in which this government is conducted. I echo the comments of the member for Ballarat at the outset when she highlighted the importance of preventative health. I know from my own electorate that issues like obesity and diabetes are pressing and real concerns that cause untold costs to individuals who are affected and their families. There are also the much greater social and economic costs of these chronic conditions.

I also take this opportunity to acknowledge the many and very significant bipartisan achievements in the area of preventative health, as were outlined in the contribution of the member for Boothby. I think it is also important that we acknowledge here that many of these achievements appear to be under significant threat because there are some fundamental differences between Labor and the members opposite in the area of health.

This month we mark 30 years of Medicare, after it was re-established by the Hawke Labor government. Medicare is under threat, along with its core principle—our core principle—that access to health care should be based on need and not an individual's capacity to pay. The Prime Minister, a former minister for health, has described himself as Medicare's best friend in much the same way he has described himself as the best friend of Australian workers; I think in foreign policy he is best friends with lots and lots of people. There is a common thread across all of these 'friendships': they do not turn out very well for the other party, whether its foreign policy, health or, most grievously and most apparently, workers in Australia—particularly those who have lost their jobs over the life of this government.

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