Steve Georganas (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

No wonder people were scared of your Medicare policy. Your record is inadequate when it comes to Medicare. Your government and your side of politics continuously want to water down Medicare. We need a society and a country where we have universal health care. We want it to matter when you show your Medicare card, not your credit card. Medicare is a perfect example of a good policy, a universal policy, that takes away the inadequacies of inequality.

The result of this freeze on payments to GPs will be dearer trips to the doctor. They will be more expensive, and people will not be able to afford to go to the doctor. It is okay if you have got money. If you are part of that cohort that will receive the $50 billion tax cut, that is fine. But, if you are a single mum with three kids and they all get the flu continuously over the winter period, what do you do then? Does the government care about those people? Certainly no thought has gone into it at all. And, if that is not enough, you are even cutting the children's dental program. Where is the equality there? Tell me where that equality is, when we see $50 billion for the richest people in this nation and we are cutting from pensioners.

We also see this growing inequality in our schools. The government has torn up the unity ticket that they took to the election campaign. In other words, they have stopped 'giving a Gonski', and all students will suffer as a result, because through education is the best way to deliver equity. It is the best way to change someone's life for the better, and we want to make sure that every single student, every single child, in this country gets the education that they deserve, regardless of the postcode where they live, regardless of their background and regardless of what circumstances they come from.

The government tried to deregulate our universities and burden students with $100,000 degrees, imposing a 'debt sentence' on thousands of Australian students. When it comes to blue-collar workers, they have literally chased industries out of this country. We all remember the former Treasurer Mr Hockey's speech in this place towards the end of 2013, where he basically shooed GMH out of the country. We need this government to stand up for blue-collar workers— (Time expired)

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