Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Minister for Health) Share this | Hansard source

And yes, in that year Labor did spend $70 million less on health than in the year before, despite the fact that they were out telling Australians that they were spending more and more on health each year. Yes, it is the case that they spent less in that year. But let me just go to the reasons that was the case: $70 million less in that year, but people will remember when the Labor Party brought in a policy that resulted in millions of Australians prepaying their private health insurance premiums to beat the tax Labor was imposing on Australians with private health insurance. What that did was drag expenditure from one year into the next. Labor does not go into the detail, and Labor is never good with numbers.

They mucked up that policy, and they mucked up many other policies. But I can tell you, the president of the AMA has said he supports, in principle, a copayment, and so does this government, and so did the Labor Party when Bob Hawke, a leader with heart, actually led the Labor Party.

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