Ms Catherine King (Ballarat, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Health) Share this | Hansard source

This week we have seen the government's division, their infighting and their chaos splashed across our parliament. But the government's chaos is not just impacting on the fortunes of the Prime Minister; it is having a very real impact on the lives of Australians around the country.

There is no better example of the failures of the Turnbull government than their approach to health. This week, we have seen two extremely serious—and I can only use this word—stuff-ups when it comes to health. They have had a ripple effect on Australians right throughout the country. These two stuff-ups are: the absolute debacle that is the government's outsourcing of the National Cancer Screening Register, and, as we have learnt today, its failure to deliver a single life-saving continuous glucose monitoring device for the thousands of children with type 1 diabetes.

I will be honest: it is hard to point to a single policy area where the government is effectively delivering any of its policy decisions. But the implications when it comes to health are particularly serious and are clear proof that, while the government and its ministers are so busy focusing on themselves, they have absolutely dropped the ball when it comes to health.

It is tough competition for the worst stuff up in the health portfolio, but I think the bungling of the rollout of the program to detect cancer earlier would have to be the top contender. So the most egregious recent stuff-up from the Turnbull government is the National Cancer Screening Register. The government said they would roll out the Cancer Screening Register on 1 May, which would include a new cervical cancer screening test to detect cervical cancer earlier. This is the establishment of a new register that combines the national cervical cancer screening register—currently undertaken by state and territory governments, and, in Victoria and South Australia, the Victorian Cytology Service—and the National Bowel Cancer Screening Register, currently operated by the Department of Human Services.

The government handed the register to Telstra, against the advice of Labor—and against the advice of the experts, including the AMA and the college of general practice. This was despite Telstra never having operated a register such as this. The government signed a $220 million contract with Telstra, only days before the election was called and before the enabling legislation had passed this place, effectively privatising the register. It was a highly controversial decision—and, in the words of Yes, Minister, a highly 'courageous' decision.

Labor and the Senate were assured—and it is on the public record—during the process of the passage of the legislation through this parliament, that, if the legislation was passed on 30 October, the register would be up and running by 1 May. The legislation passed the parliament on 13 October. We have now learnt that the register will not be ready until 1 December. We have not learnt that from the government coming in and actually telling people—telling Australian women—what is actually happening with the cervical cancer screening register. We learnt about it because of the media. And the Chief Medical Officer released a statement after it was in the media.

The implications of this are incredibly serious. They have now completely stuffed up the implementation of the register and, in turn, delayed the new cervical screening test and, potentially, put women's lives at risk. That is what you have done.

With the revelation that the government has bungled the rollout of the new test, experts have warned that: women could delay cervical screening, having already put off their Pap smears in the hope that they would have the five-year HPV screening test instead; the cytology workforce is in crisis since, as only one in every six cytologists will be needed for the new program, people have already taken voluntary redundancies or accepted new positions; and there are already delays in Pap smear results, and these will only get worse, we are told, potentially blowing out to six to eight weeks.

The government has had to patch together an emergency bailout because of its stuff-up, and that will cost millions of dollars. That is what you have done with the stuff-up of the National Cancer Screening Register.

It is a very serious failure of policy implementation. The government has completely failed to explain to Australian women what has occurred or to advise them of what they should do, and the minister, frankly, has been missing in action on this issue—he has not been out there explaining to Australian women what has happened and what they should do. And, only days before it was revealed that the government had completely stuffed this up, there was the minister, embarrassingly, out there spruiking how great the new scheme was. And it will be a great scheme, when it is place, in December—not May; December. So the fact that he has been missing in action on this stuff-up—when he should be explaining it and accepting responsibility—and has not had the decency to front up and tell women what has been happening, has been a complete disgrace.

If that were not enough, we have also learnt today that the government is yet to deliver a single one of the life-saving continuous glucose monitoring devices promised to children with diabetes at the election. The government committed to delivering 4,000 continuous glucose monitoring devices to Australians under 21, from 1 January. That was when the rollout was supposed to have started. But not a single device has been distributed, and the government cannot give a clear date for when the devices will actually be delivered. In fact, as we have seen in Senate estimates this morning, the government's own department seemed completely unaware of the government's promised start date. It did not even know about it.

Continuous glucose monitoring devices can literally save lives, by continually monitoring blood glucose levels through sensors placed under the skin, and linking to hand-held devices such as mobile phones or to insulin pumps. CGM technology reduces the risks associated with type 1 diabetes and improves quality of life.

There was a bipartisan commitment to the delivery of these devices, with Labor making a broader commitment, and there should be no excuse for this government's failure to deliver. It is eight months after the election, and the government still does not have its act together on its key promises. It cannot go around telling one thing to desperate families—many of whom have approached me—only to leave them in unacceptable limbo. You have not explained why there is a delay with your election promise. Australians were expecting it on 1 January and people were coming up to me and asking, 'Where is it?' Where have you explained that there is a delay? You have not done so. Own your own mistakes.

Of course, this all comes in the context of the government's continued attacks on health. Remember the day before the election when the Prime Minister promised that no Australian would pay more to see a GP under his Medicare freeze. That was simply not true. Australians are already paying more for GPs, out-of-pocket costs for health are increasing and, despite the heroic attempts by the minister to try to claim otherwise, bulk-billing rates for GP consultations continue to fall, with the most recent data showing that bulk-billing rates for non-referred GP attendances continuing to drop across the country. In almost every state and territory, bulk-billing for GPs is lower than it was at the time of the election. The reason, of course, is that this government is making health care less affordable for every Australian, with the Medicare freeze already forcing GPs to drop bulk-billing and to increase out-of-pocket costs.

We have had the Prime Minister also cutting $1.3 billion from the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme and increasing the co-payment by up to $5—the biggest price increase for prescription medicine in a decade. The government's Medicare safety net cuts will see Australians paying more and more before extra support kicks in, and then they will receive a reduced amount. Cuts to bulk-billing incentives, the payments which give pathologists and radiologists a specific incentive to bulk-bill, will mean bulk-billing rates for those important tests will fall, co-payments will rise and patients will be forced to pay more for tests and scans, or skip them altogether. The failure to properly fund our public hospitals has seen elective surgery waiting times blow out under the Turnbull government.

This is the legacy of this government when it comes to health. Everything they touch turns into a complete and utter stuff-up. Millions of voters rejected every single one of the Turnbull government's health cuts at the last election. Nothing has changed, and nothing will change unless the government drops their savage health cuts and unless we get rid of this appalling government.

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