Stephen Jones (Throsby, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Development and Infrastructure) Share this | Hansard source

  The National Health Amendment (Pharmaceutical Benefits) Bill 2014 is a part of the government's plan to increase the cost of health services for all Australians. It includes the $7 GP tax; the $55 billion in cuts to hospital funding, which have been roundly condemned by every single premier and chief minister, the AMA and every health association in the country; and a 13 per cent increase in PBS out-of-pocket costs. Labor will not be supporting the bill. Let me explain why. It increases the PBS charges from 1 January 2015—for general patients by $5 to $42.70, and for concessional patients by $0.80 to $6.90. These changes are above and beyond the usual CPI increases and indexation. On top of this, the concessional PBS safety net threshold is increased by two prescriptions per year and the general safety net threshold is increased by 10 per cent each year for four years. The bill raises $1.3 billion over four years and diverts money straight from people's pockets—the pockets of sick people—into the Medical Research Future Fund. We simply cannot support the bill.

In question time today, we heard the Deputy Prime Minister say that costs would always be lower under the coalition. Clearly he was not talking about the cost of health services. This bill introduces a 13 per cent increase to the cost of prescriptions on top of the $7 GP tax. This means that a patient is lucky to pay just less than $100 in out-of-pocket expenses for a trip to the doctor that results in two prescriptions and a blood test. Nobody can claim that that is lower than under Labor. The Treasurer famously said the GP tax payment would be about the equivalent of a couple of beers or one-third of a packet of cigarettes. I know the Treasurer has expensive taste but you would struggle even in this town to find a beer that cost you 100 bucks. Clearly, the Treasurer is out of touch and these propositions are out of touch.

For Australians living in the country, in regional areas such as the one I represent, where bulk-billing rates are lower and it already costs more to travel the greater distances to see your doctor, the costs will be even greater. For Australians with private health insurance cover, this measure comes on top of the largest increase to private health insurance premiums that have been approved by a government in living member. One of the health minister's first acts on coming to government was the approval of over a six per cent increase in private health insurance premiums. It is simply not fair and Labor cannot support it.

The government has a package of measures which is deliberately designed to drive up the cost of health care for every day Australians. We saw during the MPI debate today the member for Lyne concede that exact point. The measures are designed to drive up the cost of health services, of visiting a GP, because if you do that you are going to dissuade people from going to the doctor.

The government could do well to remember the lessons of history, because there are very few social programs in this country that enjoy the kind of support that the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme enjoys. You might remember, Mr Deputy Speaker, that the Curtin government first attempted to introduce the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme in 1944, and the conservatives at that point in time opposed it. In fact, the then Country Party premier of Victoria assisted in taking the bill to the High Court, and the High Court knocked it off. That led the Curtin government to introduce a referendum which would permit the federal passage of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme legislation. The conservatives fought the scheme then and they are fighting it again today, because, frankly, deep down they do not support it. They would do well to remember the fact that there are very few schemes such as the PBS which have been effectively endorsed in a referendum.

When the Prime Minister promised on ABC radio on 5 September, just days from the federal election, that he could assure the listeners to that program that there would be no cuts to health, those listeners could not have imagined what would follow. Not only has the health budget been slashed to the tune of $50 billion; this bill raises an extra $1.3 billion from the pockets of ordinary Australians—on top of other measures such as the GP tax, which raises billions more. It hurts every Australian. It is unfair. It is a breach of trust. We simply cannot support it.

I have said in previous debates on related issues that, on this particular issue, The Nationals are missing in action. When I look at the speakers listed for this debate, an honourable exception is the member for Lyne. He is stepping up to the plate. He will be speaking on this bill. And I am going to be listening very carefully to his contribution.

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