Mark Butler (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Hansard source

Thanks to the terrific member for Tangney who worked so hard in the last election, campaigning on our promise to strengthen Medicare and to make it easier and cheaper to see a doctor.

Last night's budget delivers more than $6 billion in new investments to strengthen Medicare as well as an indexation boost to Medicare rebates of $1½ billion, which will deliver the biggest across-the-board increase to Medicare rebates since Paul Keating was Prime Minister 30 years ago. But for Labor members the beating heart of Medicare is bulk-billing. I say Labor members because all of those opposite saw fit to elect as their leader a man who, in his first budget as health minister, tried to end bulk-billing for every single Australian forever and a day. When that failed, the six-year-long freeze to Medicare—

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