David Littleproud (Maranoa, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I will. Because, again, it was we that took the freeze off. It is those opposite that put it on. Not one of them had the ability to walk into this chamber and admit it, because it's all about politics. It's not about outcomes. This is Labor's way of talking about how they're spending billions of dollars on health. They talk about cuts and, again, we go back to the basics of how to run an economy. There have been no cuts! Another myth, another Labor lie! The reality is that those opposite cannot be trusted. In fact, we have seen an increase in bulk-billing rates since we have been in government. That is an achievement of this government. It is about outcomes, not just throwing money out the window, like Labor does frivolously every time they're given the Treasury benches.

Let me talk about real outcomes. Those opposite talk about cardiovascular appointments. In my electorate only last week we as a federal government gave $1 million to the Heart of Australia fund, to Dr Gomes. He is going to the most disadvantaged places in this nation and allowing them to see a cardiovascular surgeon. That is what we are doing as a real government to get real outcomes, not espousing all these hyperboles about what they can do, but delivering outcomes. That is what a government does.

Let's talk about dental. They wanted to stay away from the freeze, and rightly they should, because they started it. Let's talk about dental. I was in Winton, a small outback town that none of them would know or have ever been to. In Winton in the last couple of months we have had a new RFDS based truck that offers state-of-the-art dental surgery for those in the outback who don't have access to a dentist. That's what we on this side do—not talk about it, not the hyperbole. We deliver real outcomes for people in rural and regional Australia and the disadvantaged that those—

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