Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Minister for Health) Share this | Hansard source

It is lovely to take a diverted question from the shadow minister. I advise the shadow minister that her quote of my remarks yesterday is correct. We on this side of the House absolutely understand that if we are to make Medicare sustainable for the long-term it is necessary to ensure that the well over 75 per cent of episodes of care in this country for nonconcessional patients that are bulk-billed need to be reduced. What I have said, and what the Prime Minister has said, is that those who can make a modest contribution to the cost of their care should be encouraged to do so.

The member for Ballarat is the queen of confusion in the area of health policy. On one hand the Leader of the Opposition is saying that nothing needs to be done but, on the other hand, the member for Ballarat says, 'Well, yes, actually something does need to be done—no area will be exempt and we will have to look at ways to make savings.' And the member for Ballarat says, 'Yes, the rebate freeze—we own that, Labor put it in place', or words to that effect. So I will not take lectures from the Labor Party—a Labor Party which in government broke promises on private health, it promised not to move on the private health insurance rebate; and it jeopardised the listing of new drugs so people with serious illnesses had to wait for their drugs to come on the PBS—that was another minister for health who is no longer in this place—'But don't worry, Labor owns this problem.' We have committed to making those listings happen efficiently and effectively through the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee. Labor, the party that hates medical research, in a sneaky measure tried to take $400 million away from medical research and then backflipped—

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