Milton Dick (Oxley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to follow on from my colleague the member for Macarthur. I acknowledge his lifetime commitment to health and quality health care for the people of the electorate that he represents and the wider Sydney community. I thank him for his contribution, which covered details of the bill but also came from a very personal point of view, and his great understanding of the health sector. As one of the few GPs to have served in this parliament, he knows what he's talking about. Through you, Mr Deputy Speaker Irons, perhaps I could say to the government that they might start taking lessons from health professionals. They might start taking professional lessons from those who know what they're talking about.

I rise tonight to speak on the Health Insurance (Approved Pathology Specimen Collection Centres) Tax Amendment Bill 2018 and also to strongly support the second reading amendment of the shadow health minister. If there ever were a shining example of the hypocrisy of the government, this is it. Whilst, as we've heard, Labor supports the bill, which will make life easier for approved pathology collection centres, it cannot be lost on the House how this government gives a little with one hand but takes away a lot with the other. It's what they do about properly funding our schools, it's what they do with our hospitals, it's what they do with aged care—as we debated in this place today—and it's what they do with providing affordable and accessible health care for Australians. We, on this side of the chamber, know that, when it comes to dealing with health, health reform and health services in this country, the Turnbull government cannot be trusted. Unfortunately, Pathology Australia found this out the hard way in 2017, when pathologists accepted the abolition of bulk-billing incentives in exchange for reregulation of the rents that pathologists pay GPs to co-locate in their practices, only to have the government break this promise in the second half of 2017. It was promising on one hand while taking away with the other, which is hardly surprising, coming from a party that said there would be no cuts to health, no cuts to education and no cuts to the ABC or SBS, when, in truth, we know those opposite would actually cut the funding from all of the above.

At the time when Pathology Australia launched their Don't Kill Bulk Bill campaign in 2016, Chief Executive Officer Liesel Wett said that the sector had provided savings to the government for many years but could not continue to absorb further cuts and that the proposed unfair cuts would see patients having to pay for services from July. The CEO said at the time:

We want to make sure patients don't miss out on getting their pap smears and their life-saving blood tests, but the proposed $650 million in cuts to pathology and diagnostic imaging simply cannot be absorbed by the sector …

But that's exactly what the government did, and we know that is true to form. Rather than supporting and investing in our healthcare system, all they seem to do is cut. Here we have the national peak body for private pathology in Australia coming to terms with the government for what they thought was an acceptable outcome, only for the government then to pull the rug out from underneath them and renege on the deal. It is little wonder that the people of Australia have lost faith in the government when it can't even stick to the promises it makes with organisations like Pathology Australia, which provides high-quality, affordable, safe and accessible pathology services to all Australians.

As I mentioned at the start, when the government does give a little bit with one hand, they take away a lot with the other. This was easy to see when the government announced its modest Medicare rebate in last year's budget. While they wanted to be rewarded and congratulated on their supposed thaw, the facts told a completely different story. The Medicare rebate thaw did not apply to 93 per cent of scans, including X-rays, MRIs and ultrasounds used to diagnose some of the most common forms of cancer, and was only lifted on 59 of the 891 radiology items listed on the Medicare Benefits Schedule. That's just seven items. While mammograms and a number of CT scans were indexed under the plan, X-rays, MRIs and ultrasounds for such common conditions as brain, lung, breast and ovarian cancers were not. The rebate on common scans for arthritis and nuclear medicine also remained frozen. The government gave a little with one hand and took away an awful lot with the other. Just ask any of the 100,000 Australians who, as we heard today in this chamber, are waiting for an appropriate home care package. There is no Medicare guarantee under this government and there never will be.

It was a former member for Oxley, Bill Hayden, who built and delivered Medicare. The great Bill Hayden first delivered universal health care for this country. In 1973, during his second reading speech on the health insurance bill to introduce Medibank as it was called at the time—and I might add that it was opposed violently by those opposite—Mr Hayden said it was to provide 'the most equitable and efficient means of providing health insurance coverage for all Australians'. It was introduced by Labor and it was opposed by the Liberal Party then. It was not just for the wealthy, not just for the few, but for all Australians.

The contrast with those opposite is a very different story. The cost of going to a GP is up, the cost of private health insurance is going up, the cost of radiology is going up and the cost of seeking specialist medical care is going up. For example, earlier this year when the health minister announced another rise in private health insurance premiums, the health funds would have average weighted increases in premiums of 3.9 per cent from 1 April 2018. Thousands of private health insurance customers have seen their premiums soar well over the 3.9 per cent average increase, with figures showing that more than a dozen policies have jumped by double-digit figures. So we know that the cost of health care under this government is getting harder and harder for people to afford.

Last year, under this government, there was an increase of 4.84 per cent in premiums. The year before, it was 5.59 per cent. In 2015 it was 6.18 per cent and in 2014 it was 6.2 per cent. The costs of health care continue to rise and access to health care continues to be difficult for many Australians. Out-of-pocket costs are soaring, with hospital patients now paying around $300 per service. Not surprisingly, the Private Health Insurance Ombudsman has revealed that there were almost 10,000 complaints in the last year, almost twice as many as in 2013.

In my electorate of Oxley, just over 90,000 people hold private health insurance and they would like to see a better deal than what is being put forward by the government. In contrast, under Bill Shorten, Labor has made the unprecedented decision to cut the price increases of private health insurers at two per cent each year, for two years, delivering premium relief and budget certainty to Australians. Families in my electorate will benefit under a Shorten Labor government. Further, a Shorten Labor government would invest more in every single public hospital in the country, with an extra $2.8 billion in funding for more beds and shorter surgery waiting times.

When it comes to life-saving scans, this side of the chamber will deliver more affordable health care and greater access to it for more communities, by expanding Medicare to subsidise access to diagnostic imaging in areas where there are shortages. This means investing $80 million to boost the number of eligible MRI machines and to approve 20 new licences. That will mean 500,000 more scans funded by Medicare over the course of a first Labor budget.

In closing, it's clear to say that the Australian people do have a choice when it comes to providing affordable and accessible health care. As I said in my opening remarks, whilst we won't be opposing this bill, I do want to place on record that, time and time again, when it comes to health reform and these bills before the parliament, we constantly see the government give a little with one hand but take a lot more with the other hand. I once again say to the government: start listening to the professionals; start listening to the experts. They're the people who are wonderful frontline workers, frontline nurses and all of those great clinicians, particularly in my home state of Queensland, who go beyond the call of duty day in, day out—just like the member for Macarthur did in his professional career before entering public life. This government could take a lesson out of those doctors' books and start listening to the professionals to provide better, more affordable health care for all Australians.

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