Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Sometimes there are emotions or debates in this place that, frankly, reduce the public's appetite and support for our democracy because what they hear is deception. They hear lies. They hear information or ideas that underwrite or corrode the very integrity of the institution that I, at least, ran to serve. The objective of this parliament should and must be to serve the best interests of the people of Australia with honesty and integrity. I would hope that most members would come into this place believing that, when they left, our democracy would be healthier, more successful and carry greater trust.

And then we get motions like the MPI today, which is built on a lie, a deception, a falsehood about what is happening in health care in this country and what this government is seeking to do. Make no mistake that the objective of this government is to make sure that every Australian, whether they walk into their primary healthcare clinic to see their GP, into a hospital run by a state government or into a private hospital, gets the opportunity to get the support and the care they need to live their best lives. Yes, sometimes there's a debate around money—and there is around health care—but our focus is and has been consistently focused on making sure we get dollars in and outcomes out. What we have in this motion today is a deception that there is some decline in funding. In fact, it is the complete opposite of what this government has sought to achieve. As you'll have heard consistently throughout this government, our focus is on what we can do to grow the economy.

But we know that growing the economy is not an end of itself. Growing an economy is good. Yes, there's a larger pie. Yes, it means everybody's standard of living can rise. But it is about delivering a social, environmental, economic and human dividend, and a critical part of delivering a human dividend is, of course, providing health care for the Australian people. We do this against a backdrop of incredible challenges.

Mr Champion interjecting—

Of course we know that one of the biggest areas of increasing expenditure that faces us regardless of who is in government, the member for Wakefield, is around the ageing population—people at a time when they need the most healthcare support because the vast majority of healthcare service provision is towards the end of life. It's not just health care directly in getting support and assistance from doctors; it's the increasing costs associated with aged care and, of course, an increasing dependence on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, particularly in dealing with some chronic conditions.

At every point this government is actually delivering precisely what the Australian people need, and it's no clearer than from the record amount of investment that is going into the public hospital system. From 2013-14 to 2020-21 we have increased the investment by $13.3 billion, but apparently this is a cut. Under the new hospitals agreement, the government has committed an additional $30.2 billion in public hospital funding from 2020-21 to 2024-25, taking overall funding during this period to $130.2 billion. And we know this. In the wonderful Goldstein electorate we have one of Melbourne's best local community hospitals, as part of the Alfred Health group, at Sandy hospital. The Alfred Health group has had an increase from $219,913,309 in 2013-14 to $318 million in the last financial year—growth of $98 million. That's a fair amount. That's a big increase.

What we're seeing more and more because of the focus on the economy to deliver for the human dividend is the amount of money we're able to contribute in increasing access to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme so that people can manage their health condition. Yes, there have been approximately $9 billion in increased listings in this government, but increasingly we are seeing innovative new drugs like Kisqali and the whooping cough vaccine for pregnant mothers, which are being added as of 1 July, and we should be immensely proud of that.

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