Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Health) Share this | Hansard source

The Labor Party will be supporting this bill, the Health Legislation Amendment (Data-matching and Other Matters) Bill 2019. This legislation updates the National Health Act 1953 and the Health Insurance Act 1973 and related legislation to improve Medicare compliance by allowing data-matching between agencies.

I will say that we looked at this legislation carefully and closely. We examined it to ensure that it is as presented, and we are satisfied that it is worthy of support and passage through the parliament. It will allow data to be matched between Medicare, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency, the Therapeutic Goods Administration, the Department of Veterans' Affairs and the Department of Home Affairs. To be frank, this is about cracking down on fraud. There's a very small amount of fraud. It might amount to significant amounts, but it's a small number of people who conduct it within Medicare. Government agencies should have the ability to compare data to deal with that, because the perpetrators of that fraud deserve no support, no truck from this House. Of course, these things are always a matter of balance. There are balances to be struck. I will be looking closely at the instrument that the minister eventually tables.

This legislation will not allow the government or any agency to share information with private health insurers, which is something we were concerned about. It is a one-way flow of information to better equip government agencies on compliance issues. Taken together, the bill will help identify and take action against a very small number of health providers that make inappropriate and improper Medicare claims. Whilst such providers are small in number, it is important that we identify and address them. They're doing no favours to anybody but themselves.

While this bill expands the range of data that will be available for compliance activities it doesn't change the compliance activities themselves, which are governed by separate frameworks. In particular, I welcome the minister's assurance that the compliance activities will not be automated. We were alert to that risk. We wanted to ensure it would be done by human beings so that other mistakes made in other portfolios would not be repeated in this portfolio, and the minister has provided that assurance.

There is some small risk that data matching presents to the privacy and security of patients' and doctors' information, and it's vital that that be managed. The bill requires the minister to make a legislative instrument to govern the new data-matching program. It is also the case that there are some instances of grey areas where doctors have maybe thought they were doing the right thing, and did not have the intention to defraud, so we will look at the legislative instrument. If we have any concerns about the legislative instrument, I will raise them directly with the minister in good faith and see if we can sort them through. Of course, we do ultimately have other options available to us, but we will do that cooperatively with the minister and see if we can work through any issues. I doubt there will be any issues that I choose to raise on the legislative instrument, but I just flag for the record that we will reserve that right. I do undertake to talk to the minister if we have any concerns before moving down any other options we have available to us in the parliament. I also welcome the fact, and find it reassuring, that the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner will have some oversight of the new scheme. This bill will address one risk to Medicare—that is, inappropriate claiming by a small number of providers.

Our support for this bill is not to be taken in any sense as us being happy with the government in all instances. We are very concerned about cuts in other places, and I will be moving a second reading amendment which reflects that. I don't expect the government to support the second reading amendment, but it will give honourable members the chance to express views about those matters for which we have long been on the record, in terms of the government's longstanding record on health more generally and health cuts. We will be pursuing that through the House.

I move:

That all words after "That" be omitted with a view to substituting the following words:

"whilst not declining to give the bill a second reading, the House notes that the real risk to Medicare is the Government's cuts and neglect".

However, I am happy to provide the Labor Party's support for the substantive bill.

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