Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Me too. I thank the member for Ballarat for her matter of public importance and it is really something that's very important to me and it's been the basis of my career. The real problem is that the Liberal-National Party does not understand health care. It's a fundamental failing over decades. They have done some good things in health, I don't deny it, but their understanding of the system and what we should be doing in health care in Australia is sadly deficient.

The growing issue of accessibility to care and to our healthcare system and the inability to change what appears, to me, to be a descent into a two-tiered American-style health system is something I see as a great tragedy in Australia and one of the main reasons I came into this place. For many years the gap in health care has been widening between those who can afford it and those who can't afford it. We're entering a system that Medicare was designed to avoid, and now it's really your credit card that determines the quality of health care you can get in Australia. This government doesn't seem to bat an eyelid at this.

We're now seeing the continuation of the Medicare freeze with rebates for GPs, specialists and allied healthcare services all continuing to be frozen. Today we heard from the Rural Doctors Association of Australia that this is having a real effect on the health care that they can provide to rural Australians and their ability to attract doctors and allied health professionals to the bush. Rural doctors are struggling to maintain bulk-billing because of increasing costs, yet this government is doing very little. We're seeing waiting times for elective surgery in my electorate increase—waiting times for things like cataract surgery are now over one year. Someone who's going blind from cataracts has to wait over a year to get proper treatment. People who can afford it can get treatment within a week. It's a shame. This government does not understand that the more money you cut from preventive health care, the more you spend on repairing the long-term damage.

The government is more than happy to allow private healthcare providers to consistently increase their fees without adequate reasons and without adequately understanding the lack of transparency and the poor services offered by private health insurance. Private health insurance costs have increased by 27 per cent in the last five years, and the government is set to increase the costs even further, while delivering tax cuts for big business. We now see people—and I've had personal experiences—put off visits to specialists and subspecialists. To see a cardiologist and get an ECG and a cardiac ultrasound, the gap can be up to $500 for some people, and for many pensioners this is beyond their means. We're now seeing that sickness and lack of healthcare insurance was the primary cause of non-business-related personal insolvency in 2016-17. It's an absolute shame.

This government doesn't seem to worry about the stagnation in personal incomes, yet it allows continued increases in private health insurance. Not only has the wages share fallen to an all-time low, but the profit share of private health insurers has climbed to an all-time high. Yet that doesn't seem to be a problem.

There are a couple of things I'd like to mention quickly. This government does not understand health care. At the beginning of this parliament they sold off Australia's central cancer registry. We know that data in health care is the new gold, and yet the government sold it off without any transparency and without adequately informing the parliament.

I have letters from many people, including one of my colleagues. One colleague has written to me today, saying: 'There's a crisis in accessing allergy treatments in our public hospital system'—a crisis, and yet this government ignores it. The primary problem is that the National-Liberal government does not understand health care. It is a great shame. It is increasing the costs for all Australians. (Time expired)

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