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

What a contribution that was! The member for Barker talked about the sustainability of Medicare when all this legislation is is an attack on the sustainability of Medicare. He should hang his head in shame that he would dare to come into this chamber and say that this legislation will lead to the sustainability of Medicare. This bill, the Health Insurance Amendment (Safety Net) Bill 2015, will lead to a situation where Medicare is less sustainable. The member for Barker talked about maintaining the safety net and, in the first part of his contribution to this debate, he repeatedly spoke about delivering efficiencies. I am yet to understand how this legislation does anything to maintain the safety net. What it does is erode the safety net, and those on the other side of this House need to be honest with the people of Australia and explain just how it erodes the safety net.

Those opposite talk about this bill providing a better Medicare system. It will certainly not provide a better Medicare system. It will lead to a weaker Medicare system. It will lead to a two-tiered Medicare system. This bill really shows the ideological bent of those on the other side of this House. This legislation will lead to cost-shifting, because it will force more people to utilise public hospitals as they will not be able to afford to access doctors in the private sector because the costs will be so great.

This legislation is supposed to be a measure to simplify Medicare safety net arrangements. I see this bill as legislation that will erode the benefits that are paid to those people who rely on the Medicare safety net. It is like all measures that the government has sought to introduce in the health field—and I probably could be so bold as to say in most areas. It is poorly designed and, in this case, it is very bad health policy. I know that there has been very little consultation in relation to this, and I know that there has been an enormous amount of criticism—which I will talk about later in my contribution in this debate. This bill signals yet again that this government's approach to health is to cut benefits to Australians and to force the cost of health care onto individual Australians. The government really is determined to see the Medicare system that exists at the moment transformed into one that fits in with its philosophy and ideology.

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