Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Minister for Health) Share this | Hansard source

But it goes beyond that. They slashed a billion dollars from dental by cutting chronic disease dental care. They cut $664 million from Medicare for GPs—and, by the way, they introduced the freeze on GP rates. They then cut $500 million from Medicare for pathology and $450 million from Medicare for safety net protection. They are not Medi-friends; they are Medi-frauds—rolled-gold Medi-frauds. That is what we have on the other side. Add to that, there is the small matter of the not-so-super clinics that never actually appeared.

Those opposite have a disgraceful record. But let me add one more thing. As all members of this House would know, in the lead-up to the last election, they made much of the notion that they were going to reintroduce $57 billion of hospitals funding. But, when the Treasurer called them out and they were forced to account for what they would do, they produced $2 billion—a $55 billion shortfall; a four per cent achievement. In anybody's language, four per cent is a failure—unless you are Senator Kitching filling out a few HSU forms on behalf of other people. It was a four per cent achievement and a $55 billion shortfall. That is why they have dropped their hospitals campaign, because they were caught out red-handed misleading the Australian people, something that was a disgrace, something for which they were caught and something which now shows they were never Medi-friends; they were always Medi-frauds—rolled gold, through and through, caught in the act. That is what Labor did, and remember this always: Labor hate private health insurance.

More than that, you then come to the claims they make today. They have made two claims. The first is in relation to women's health and the test for cervical cancer. The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners have had no hesitation over the years, where they have had disagreements with this government, in making those disagreements well and truly known. Here is what the president of the college, Bastian Seidel, said only last week:

… I commend the government for its sensible decision to delay implementation until all necessary systems are fully in place.

The college's media release stated:

… the decision this week to delay implementation of the program was a positive indication of the Federal Government's commitment to safe, high quality health care for Australian patients.

Do you know what? On coming into office, I checked through a number of programs and this is one which I discussed with the CEO of the company in question. My judgement was that this was not ready to proceed. It was not going to be able to proceed safely, so at my request the Chief Medical Officer made this known immediately and within three days we had an agreement with the pathology sector to ensure safe and continuous protection of women and testing of women. Our commitment is to women, to achieve these protections and to introduce the new test when it can be safely done, on 1 December. That was the advice of the Chief Medical Officer. If the opposition disagree with the Chief Medical Officer, they should say so. If they disagree with the royal Australian college of GPs, they should say so.

The other one that they have tried to have a go at today is the implementation of continuous glucose monitoring. Here is what Diabetes Australia said today:

… Diabetes Australia fully supports the current timing and approach being taken for the safe, reliable and effective delivery of the new CGM program to maximise the benefits to children and young people with type 1 diabetes.

I have only been in the job a few short weeks and we are in a position, as the opposition spokesperson knows, to make an announcement in the very near future about an imminent commencement. That is why those opposite are trying to get this in today—because they know we are going to do what they never did in government. How much did they allocate when they were in government? Zero dollars. How much have we allocated? Fifty-four million dollars. We have allocated $54 million; in government they allocated zero dollars. We are doing what they never did, and we have the support of Diabetes Australia and the support of the DANII Foundation.

Let me go to broader issues. What have we achieved in just the last five weeks? We have achieved medicinal cannabis import rules, which at my request have been expedited and will see Australians given real access to medicinal cannabis on prescription for the first time where it is fully available. That is something that no-one in Australian history has done previously. We have announced the listing of Kalydeco for cystic fibrosis sufferers between two and six years of age. This is fundamental and vital and should be welcomed, and I believe it is welcomed by members on all sides. We have announced subsidised access to olaparib, a drug for women with gynaecological cancers that will save them up to $100,000 per year—again a tremendous result. The NHMRC will receive funding of $125 million, with over $30 million going to cancer research in Australia. Beyond that, we have announced the highest half-year bulk-billing figures for GPs in Australian history, up over 3½ per cent compared with when Labor was in office—over 3½ per cent higher than Labor's figures.

Do you know what? Our four pillars of our long-term national health plan are based on a rock-solid commitment to Medicare first and foremost. Our funding goes up from $22 billion to $23 billion to $24 billion to $25 billion. It is based on a rock-solid commitment to our hospitals, where funding goes from $17 billion to $18 billion to $20 billion to $21 billion. It is based on a deep personal and national commitment to mental health and preventive health. We have already taken real strides on that front and we want to work with the opposition on that—I would hope there is no back-chatter on that one. Finally, on medical research, we have created a Medical Research Future Fund, which the ALP never did. We are committed on all four fronts and we are delivering where they failed.

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