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

I don't propose to detain the House for very long because there is not much to detain the House about; this is a very straightforward bill. This Health Insurance Amendment (Administration) Bill 2020 makes some improvements in administrative processes and improvements to Medicare. The bill's main provision is to remove the annual requirement to remake the Medicare Benefits Schedule. The passage of the Legislation Act 2003 made this process redundant, because up-to-date compilations of all legislative instruments are now placed on the Federal Register of Legislation. The government assures us these minor changes will not impact on Medicare patients or providers; they relate solely to government processes. So this bill is uncontroversial and it will receive the support of this side of the House.

It does say something about the government's reform agenda, particularly in the health portfolio, that this is the 'urgent' piece of legislation. While it does fix an anomaly, this is an anomaly which has existed since 2003. The Howard, Rudd, Gillard, Abbott, Turnbull and Morrison governments have lived with it until now. This is a government so bereft of agenda that it brings forward this sort of legislation as its health agenda. There is nothing about record out-of-pocket costs, which are the highest they have ever been; waiting lists, the highest they have ever been; nothing about the private health insurance crisis, no reform agenda there—the minister keeps talking about a second wave but we have yet to see it—and there was some tinkering in the budget; that's it. The health system in Australia needs serious reform. Whether it is the social determinants of health or whether it is an increased emphasis on prevention, whatever it shall be, there is a case for big reform in the health system. Instead, we get from the government this sort of administrative tinkering, which we will facilitate through the House.

See this speech in context