Ms Catherine King (Ballarat, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Dental Benefits Amendment Bill 2021. Despite being the first speaker I will only go for a short period of time, and the member for Hindmarsh, as the shadow minister for health, will follow me in speaking in the debate. This bill amends the Dental Benefits Act 2008 to remove the lower eligibility age restriction of two years to allow eligible children to access the Child Dental Benefits Schedule from zero years of age. It's a good move.

Like the bill we've just debated in this place, the organ and tissue donation authority bill, introduced by this government, these changes build on a very proud Labor legacy. They are shining examples of what good progressive Labor governments do when they are in government. They reform health and they ensure that there is a lasting legacy of reform, of improving and increasing services that are available to the Australian public, which stands in stark contrast to the sort of behaviour we've seen from those opposite—no reform, no agenda, minute improvements in health and this debacle of a crisis we've got before us at the moment.

To remind people: it was the Gillard Labor government that introduced the Child Dental Benefits Schedule in August 2012 as part of the Dental Health Reform Package, comprising three elements. There was a $1.3 billion national partnership agreement about adult public dental services—something this government has absolutely slashed, and we have seen a reduction in Commonwealth funding for public dental. There was a $225 million flexible grants program, which saw improvements in capital to public dental facilities and expansion of access to dental chairs right the way across the country but particularly in areas of vulnerability, of low socio-economic status, and improved access to public dental. Then we had the $2.7 billion Child Dental Benefits Schedule, replacing the former Chronic Disease Dental Scheme, which closed in November 2012, and the Medicare Teen Dental Plan, which closed in 2013. It was a really significant reform—a reform designed to increase the capacity of our health system to look after the oral health of children and to set children up for lifelong good oral health.

It is worth reminding those opposite—there are a lot of new people here in the chamber—that when Minister Ley was the health minister, in those first years of the Abbott government, now the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison-Joyce government, the government sought to abolish this scheme. We are very proud of the fact that we managed to stare down their attempts to abolish this scheme and that it has now become entrenched as part of our healthcare system. That is what we always have to do: Labor governments expand access to services across a range of health issues and then try to defend it against Liberal-National party cuts. We desperately tried to do that on public dental. We were not as successful as we would have liked, but we certainly stared them down on this. We then ensure it is entrenched as part of our health system—and it has become something that the government itself is now expanding, which is good to see.

The Report on the fourth review of the Dental Benefits Act 2008, tabled on 23 July 2019, recommended lowering the current eligibility age to one year. By removing the lower eligibility age restriction altogether, which is what this bill is doing, it is estimated that an additional 300,000 children aged between zero and two will become eligible for the program each year, starting from 1 January 2022. It's estimated that each year 15 per cent of children in this newly-eligible age group, presenting with teeth, will access the scheme.

The Child Dental Benefits Schedule literally changed the lives of millions of young Australians and their families, and we're pleased to say that this bill will help. Since Labor introduced the reform it has provided over $2.3 billion in benefits and delivered more than 38 million services to over three million Australian children, changing forever the capacity of those children and setting them up with good oral health from the start. We've all seen this—we've all been in schools in our electorates and in communities across the place where we have seen children as young as five with rotten baby teeth having to go for emergency dental services and having those removed. But the Child Dental Benefits Schedule provides eligible children, particularly from low-income families, with access to dental services. This bill means that they get that access right the way from birth through to when the scheme's eligibility ceases.

Three million Australian children have avoided worsening physical and mental health impacts from untreated dental conditions thanks to this program, with massive flow-on benefits to their families, their communities and to the broader Australian society—including the government's bottom line—from avoided downstream medical costs. This is a fantastic Labor legacy and it is a great demonstration of what a government focused on working to make Australian lives easier can actually achieve. The bill represents a welcome reform to the dental benefit schedule, and Labor supports it as an extension of Labor's legacy. The bill extends coverage of the scheme to children from birth to 17 years, as I said, removing that lower age limit.

It is well known and accepted that parents promoting and practising good oral hygiene with children from a young age will aid in the prevention of more serious dental decay and associated health impacts as they grow up. The bill will help to deliver a positive initial dental experience for more Australian kids and help to curb the unfortunate, sometimes negative, stigma for children heading to the dentist and on oral hygiene. Any parent of small children knows how incredibly hard it is to get them to clean their teeth regularly. It provides a much-needed boost when you take them to the dentist to actually get the dentist to teach them how to do that properly, to actually practice good oral hygiene and to reinforce the messages that you as a parent are making.

As a result of the change the government is making in this bill, as I said, an extra 300,000 children will benefit from the scheme. From 1 January 2022 it's estimated that 15 per cent of children in this new eligible group, 45,000 children per year, will now be able to access the scheme. That is 45,000 children a year with better oral health, and better physical and mental health as a result. It's a good thing. It means up to 45,000 families with fewer worries about being able to pay for the dental care that their kids need. And it means 45,000 children with better relationship experiences with and views of dentists, having been exposed to a dentist early in life, with the benefits flowing through for the rest of their lives. That's why Labor supports the bill and we commend it to the House.

That said, it's not the only area in which the government can improve health outcomes for all Australians. As I said, what we've seen in this bill and the bill previously is what good, progressive Labor governments do. They expand access to services under our healthcare system and they build in lasting reforms and lasting legacies that improve health equity and health outcomes for the Australian population. Too many of the government's bills, frankly, have been about tinkering around the edges when much more substantial reform is needed. This is particularly the case in rural and regional Australia, and I will be moving a second reading amendment on behalf of the member for Hindmarsh, but which is now circulated in my name and seconded by the member for Fenner, that goes to this issue.

Over eight long years we have seen the Morrison-Joyce government failing to improve the very dire situation facing rural and regional communities. In fact, they're contributing to making the GP shortage in those communities worse. A lack of doctors and other medical professionals in regional and rural communities across Australia is not a new problem, but a series of government decisions and the pandemic mean that it's time to highlight this critical issue before people are left with no healthcare options in their communities. More towns are being left without doctors, people needing care are left with longer drives and life expectancy is lower. I see it in my own home town and I see it in the smaller towns that make up my electorate.

On average, Australians living in rural and remote areas have shorter lives and higher level s of disease compared with people living in metropolitan areas. In 2017-18 , potentially preventable hospitalisation rates in very remote areas were 2.5 times higher than in our major cities. That's what has been happening. Part of this equation is, of course, access. This is one reason why Labor recently led the formation of a Senate inquiry into the provision of general practitioner and related primary health services to outer metropolitan, rural and regional Australia. This will be an important forum for the issues to be explored, but the government cannot use this inquiry as an excuse to wait. Improving access, attracting doctors and retaining services is something that should be a priority now. The Morr ison-Joyce government must act.

All that said, and on behalf of the member for Hindmarsh , joining us virtually, I move the following amendment:

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:

(1) notes the bill expands access to public dental services; and

(2) urges the Government to do more to address:

(a) access to dental and other health services, including General Practice, in outer-metropolitan, rural and regional Australia; and

(b) out of pocket costs for all Australians accessing these services".

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