Stephen Bates (Brisbane, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I move, as an amendment to the amendment proposed by Ms Ley:

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

"House, whilst not declining to give the bill a second reading:

(1) notes that:

(a) Medicare cannot be a universal healthcare system while essential dental care is excluded; and

(b) the Australian Dental Association's Annual Oral Health Survey found that over 60 per cent of Australians had delayed a trip to the dentist in the previous 12 months, with cost being the main barrier; and

(2) calls on the Government to legislate the inclusion of dental care into Medicare".

Medicare is crucial to Australia's healthcare system, and strengthening Medicare needs to be a top priority as Australians endure this cost-of-living crisis, because our healthcare system, as it stands right now, is struggling. It's becoming rarer by the day to find a bulk-billing GP, it's nearly impossible to access mental health care support without huge gap payments, and the cost of dental care has become so expensive that millions of Australians are putting it off entirely. A properly funded universal healthcare system actually saves the country money in the long run. It reduces poverty, creates jobs and drives economic productivity. It is achievable and desperately needed, as a matter of urgency, because everyone should be able to afford to go to the dentist when they need help.

Too many Australians cannot access the dentist because it is too expensive, and more people are not eligible for public dentistry than ever before. As things stand, millions of Australians are putting off going to the dentist because they simply cannot afford it. It doesn't just lead to worse teeth; it leads to a host of other health concerns that also come from this lack of access.

Now, I was really fortunate that, after I was elected to this place, I was able to afford, finally, to go to the dentist and get some fillings done, because I couldn't afford them while I was in my previous job, in retail. But, because I had waited so long, those fillings had become root canals, costing thousands and thousands more dollars than they previously would have. You shouldn't have to be elected to this place or rely on your income to be able to get access to life-saving and essential healthcare treatment, and that includes dentistry.

I also had the fortunate experience of growing up in the UK, where, up until the age of 18, all your dentistry and orthodontics are actually covered by the National Health Service. I was able to get my teeth looked after. I was able to get orthodontics done, all without costing my family a penny, which was an incredible experience. Then we moved over here, and my family had to pay about $4,000 in orthodontics to get my braces removed. That's a worlds-apart experience of engaging with the healthcare system—about what could be and what families could look forward to, compared to the situation that we find ourselves in in this country.

And we can't forget that, while Australians can't afford to go to a doctor or dentist in greater and greater numbers, we have one in three large corporations in this country paying no income tax. These large corporations can use all these various offsets and loopholes to get out of paying tax while everyday Australians cannot afford basic health care. The system is fundamentally broken, and we all know this. We all feel it.

Now, we fix this by changing the rules of the game. We make billion dollar companies pay their fair share of taxes so that we can expand Medicare to include dental care. In 2012, the Greens were able to secure dental care for kids into Medicare. In this term of parliament, we conducted the first Senate inquiry into access to dental care in Australia. In addition to expanding Medicare to include dental care, the Greens are calling on the government to create a chief oral and dental health care officer within the department of health, because having healthy teeth should not be a luxury in this country. Everyone should be able to use their Medicare card to go to the dentist when they need it. We have no other choice but to bring dental care fully into Medicare.

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