Ms Catherine King (Ballarat, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Health) Share this | Hansard source

I note the contribution from the previous speaker and look forward to seeing him campaigning in the seat of Reid, as I will be, on the substantial cuts to his area health service. And every time there is a bed closure, an emergency department time that blows out and people cannot access elective surgery in his electorate, I will remind him of the words he just spoke. I particularly want to speak about Medicare Locals. I note the contribution from someone who in fact represents one of the poorest communities in this country and I find it incredibly disappointing that he is not standing up for his community when it comes to the healthcare needs of some of the most vulnerable people in Tasmania.

I refer to a briefing to Medicare Locals last Friday by the staff of Deloittes, who conducted a component of the review of Medicare Locals on behalf of Professor John Horvath. I understand that that was a very open briefing and that a number of matters that Deloittes examined during their look at Medicare Locals— a very small number of Medicare Locals—was broadly discussed. I ask the minister: can he confirm that it was in fact a mandatory component of the review conducted by Deloitte that the number of Medicare locals be reduced? To clear up any confusion on this point, will the minister release publicly the Deloitte report?

Of course we know that before the last election, on 28 August under pressure during the last leaders debate, the Prime Minister said, 'We are not shutting any Medicare locals.' That is a clear statement he made quite a few times towards the end of the election campaign. Can the minister now confirm that in fact every single Medicare local is to close and that this promise by the Prime Minister before the election will not be honoured? When was the decision to shut Medicare locals made? Can the minister in fact confirm the decision to reduce the number of Medicare locals was a predetermined outcome of his review? Can the minister confirm that the cost of transitioning to the far fewer numbers of primary healthcare networks is now being absorbed by Medicare locals across the country, that this in particular is affecting services like GP training programs, immunisation programs and family violence programs delivered or contracted for from those Medicare locals?

We know that Medicare locals across the country were given their budget. I understand Victoria was given theirs last Friday and Queensland, New South Wales and other states are now also reporting those budgets. Many of them have now been informed that they have had a significant cut to their funding—in some instances, from 10 per cent to 20 per cent of their funding. What we are seeing with Medicare locals as a result of that is that that budget cut, they are being told, is to pay for bureaucracy to support a tender process in order to support the government's broken promise to close Medicare locals. A number of frontline service staff have been dismissed and told that they have lost their jobs in the last two weeks. I note there was someone who contacted my office—a nurse of some 35 years—who in fact had actually not been unemployed for the last 35 years and has now lost her job at a Medicare local. Can the minister tell the chamber how many staff at Medicare locals have lost their jobs since the government's budget and how many more will lose their jobs as a result of the government's decision to close all Medicare locals?

I note that there are reports that the minister has asked senior department officials to explore ways that costs of GP visits in particular could be covered by private health insurers, and I may come back to that point, but in relation to Medicare locals I want to know what discussions he has had with private health insurers around the contracts and tenders for the new primary health networks.

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