Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to say that members of the government are totally out of touch with their constituents if they do not understand that. I was out doorknocking with a state candidate on Saturday and I can say that there was not a single person who gave a vote of approval to the performance of the Liberal coalition government here in Canberra.

This pain and hurt has been inflicted in a number of areas—education, the $100,000 degrees that we are all hearing about. The form is taking place there. Attacks on pensioners—Shortland is an electorate with a lot of elderly people in it, and those pensioners are very upset with the Abbott government. Families—the attacks on workers and their wages and conditions. These are all things that are really impacting on people; the voters of the Shortland electorate.

I would really like to emphasise the changes to Medicare. The changes and the surcharge are absolute madness! It has united the whole community. It has united the doctors, the patients and health workers. Everybody is up in arms about the proposals that this government has brought forward to attack health in our community. Medicare has meant that all Australians have access to health care when they need it. Medicare ensures that if you are sick you can see a doctor and you can afford it. But the changes that are being put forward by the Abbott government—and they still have not walked away from them—will really hurt people.

I met with a new group in my electorate last Friday, the Hunter General Practitioners Association. You are not going to believe this—the Abbott government has forced the doctors of Australia and the Hunter to join together, because they want to be an independent voice for GPs. They want to provide professional exchange amongst their members, but first and foremost they want to fight the changes that are being put forward by the Abbott government, changes they know are going to impact really badly on their patients. The fact that there was no consultation was one of the things they highlighted in our discussion—and the lack of seeking their suggestions about what they could do to help lower health costs. They actually have some ideas that I think are worthwhile considering they have come together to promote primary health care and a collaborative approach between all sectors. That is government, doctors and their patients. Good policy is formed by everybody forming partnerships and working together, not by a government unilaterally imposing on people what they believe is good for them.

The Prime Minister was Minister for Health and Ageing in the Howard government, and I remember how he used to stand up in parliament and say, 'I'm the best friend that Medicare ever had.' As he said it, he just smirked. He was showing his disdain for the Australian people and disdain for Medicare as he constantly undermined it. When he was health minister 60 per cent of the services in the Shortland electorate were bulk billed. Now it is 82 per cent. That is because of the policies that have been put in place. When the Prime Minister was health minister, every time figures were released, the number of doctors bulk billing went down. It shows that he really never has had that commitment to health.

When he was health minister the health and ageing committee at the time brought down a report—The blame game: report on the inquiry into health fundinglooking at trying to solve one of the biggest problems that exists in health: the cost shifting between the state and the Commonwealth. Unfortunately, the good work that was done on that committee was ignored.

The general practice association in the Hunter pointed out that they developed a strong relationship with their patients over a long period of time. Sometimes it is even intergenerational. They say that we have one of the best healthcare systems in the world and there is equitable access to that health system. I think members on the other side would probably agree with that. I think my colleagues on the health committee would know that people can get equitable access to high-quality health care. The doctors say: 'We believe that the proposed co-payment and MBS indexation freeze should not be implemented. These proposals could place barriers to health care between patients and their GPs and represent a divestment in primary care. Both of these outcomes are undesirable.'

These are not statements that are made at a union meeting. These are not statements made at the pension association meeting. Rather, this is a statement made by doctors who care for patients and who are not radical in any way. Their only care—their only motivation—is to ensure that their patients obtain good access to health care.

They even came up with some ideas for saving. They looked at reducing the costs for pharmaceuticals and had a couple of suggestions in that area; reducing the cost of investigations, in which they highlighted radiography and investigations that were undertaken there; stabilising the cost of specialist care; and reviewing disease management Medicare items. So there are a number of areas where, if the government were truly serious about looking at reducing health costs, they could have moved, but instead they were driven by their ideology and immediately decided, 'We've got to make people pay to get access to health care.'

I do not think that is the answer. I think that, if you compare our health system in Australia to the health system in the UK, the US and countries throughout the world, we have one of the lowest cost structures.

In addition to that, the government's claim that health costs are increasing is fallacious because they have actually decreased in recent times. What we have before us is an assault on our healthcare system. What we have before us is an assault on Medicare. That assault is being driven by ideology. It is being driven by a Prime Minister that has no commitment whatsoever to Medicare, a Prime Minister that has runs on the board and has a history in that area. We have had a new health minister appointed, but it is still the same government; it is still the same policy; it is still the same ideology. The government is still going to have the same agenda, and that agenda is to push the costs for health onto patients, onto Australians, and to make sure that we move away from universal health care, from a system that ensures every person can get access to health care when they need it. (Time expired)

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