Brian Mitchell (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The average gap that Tasmanians pay for X-rays is $61, $9 more than the national average. For CT scans it's $172—that's $21 more—and for MRIs it's $206, $24 more than the national average. Tasmanians are also bulk-billed at below the national average for diagnostic imaging. If you're diagnosed with bowel cancer, you can generally expect during treatment to undergo two CT scans, a bone study and an MRI. All up, that's $2,327, with a gap fee of around $690.

I bring these matters up because the federal government made a promise during the last election. They said:

The Coalition will ensure that diagnostic imaging indexation resumes when the current GP rebate indexation freeze concludes …

The GP rebate freeze ends on 30 June this year, but the diagnostic-imaging freeze remains. This ongoing freeze directly affects companies like Regional Imaging in Launceston, its staff and its patients.

The government may play cute and claim that it's kept its promise by lifting just seven per cent of services on diagnostic imaging, but Tasmanians know better. The Liberals made a clear promise at the election, and they're breaking it. I call on those opposite to do the right thing. Simply stand by your election promise. If you can't keep your election promises from two years ago, why should any Tasmanian trust anything you have to say now?

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