Mark Baker (Braddon, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is addressed to the Minister for Health and Ageing. Would the minister advise the House on the progress of measures to strengthen Medicare. Are there any alternative policies and what is the government’s response?

Kim Beazley (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. This question has been asked at least once a week for the last five weeks. It has been fully asked and answered. He cannot answer questions our spokesperson asks, so he has to arrange himself—

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Leader of the Opposition  will resume his seat. As I heard the question, the words used were different from previous ones.

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Braddon for his question on health. Given that for nine months there were no questions on health from the opposition, thank God people on this side are still interested in this important topic. The Howard government is proud of Medicare. We are very proud of Medicare and that is why we are always looking for new ways to make a good system work even better. Amongst other things, the government’s bulk-billing incentives have driven GP bulk-billing rates for children and people in country areas—

Kim Beazley (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Beazley interjecting

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Does he object to bulk-billing rates going up?

Kim Beazley (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order, which goes absolutely to the fact that a question asked and already answered cannot be renewed. Fair dinkum, there were three questions from this side of the House and he could not answer them, but he gets asked this question that he is asked every week.

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Leader of the Opposition would be well aware that the standing order that applies to answers says that the answer shall be relevant to the question.

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There are no questions from the opposition on bulk-billing rates, and that is because this government has pushed GP bulk-billing rates for children and people in country areas to record highs. There has been a—

Brendan O'Connor (Gorton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Brendan O’Connor interjecting

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Gorton is warned!

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

20 per cent increase in bulk-billing rates in Braddon. And you will hear it again, I say to the Leader of the Opposition. You will hear this again—and you deserve to hear it, because this government is doing the right thing by Medicare.

Kim Beazley (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, on a point of order: the minister even had the hide to say that I was going to hear it again and again, confessing the fact that he has fully answered the question—

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Leader of the Opposition will resume his seat. That is not a point of order. Has the minister completed his answer?

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No, I have not.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, on a point of order: the minister has just conceded he is in breach of standing order 100(b).

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Grayndler is well aware that the standing order that applies to answers is standing order 104. He is in order.

Duncan Kerr (Denison, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, on a point of order: answers to questions are not only governed by standing order 100; they are also governed by the general standing orders that prohibit tedious repetition, a matter which is in your responsibility to enforce.

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Denison will resume his seat. He would be well aware that successive occupiers of the chair have ruled that that standing order does not apply to question time.

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am just very surprised that members opposite do not want to hear the good news about Medicare, thanks to the policies of this government. They have always claimed to be the party of Medicare, and what they object to is the fact that this government has done more for Medicare than any other government in Australia’s history. We will keep talking about our achievements with Medicare, because we believe in it and we have done the right thing by it. Not only have bulk-billing rates gone up but also primary health care is improving. Almost one million Australians now have GP management plans, thanks to the policies of this government. Almost a quarter of a million Australians in the last 12 months have enjoyed allied health professional care, thanks to the policies of this government. Almost $1 billion in new money is being spent on medical research, thanks to the policies of this government. And look at him: he yawns and he leans back. These things matter to the Australian people because today’s research is tomorrow’s new medicines and tomorrow’s new medical treatment—and these things are important. And we will keep talking about them.

I have been asked about alternative policies, and I regret to inform the House that, since 3 May, Labor has officially been a health-policy-free zone. That was the day when the Leader of the Opposition finally abolished the member for Lalor’s pet policy of Medicare Gold. Let me say it takes a lot of guts for Mr Twenty-Five Per Cent to scrap the policy of Madam Thirty-One Per Cent; nevertheless, he has finally done it—

Kim Beazley (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, on a point of order: since you decided to be so vigorous with the interpretation—

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Leader of the Opposition will come to his point of order.

Kim Beazley (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It goes to relevance and it relates to House of Representatives Practice, page 538, which I will read out to you—

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Leader of the Opposition will resume his seat. I will rule on his point of order on relevance.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Leader of the Opposition is well aware that the occupier of the chair is not required to hear an argument. You have raised a point of order, you have said it is on relevance and I will rule on it.

Kim Beazley (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will make a further point of order which goes not to the point of relevance but to—

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Leader of the Opposition has asked me to rule on a point of order on relevance. Does he want me to rule on it? I will rule that the minister’s answer is relevant to the question.

Kim Beazley (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I raise a further point of order on whether the material in the answer is permissible. The first question we asked was—

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Leader of the Opposition will resume his seat. He is well aware—

Kim Beazley (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Beazley interjecting

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Leader of the Opposition will resume his seat and I will rule. He has asked me to rule on a point of order on the answer to a question. The standing order that applies to answers is standing order 104, and I am applying the standing order.

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I do not like to see the Leader of the Opposition as frustrated as he is, so let me conclude on this point. The member for Lalor, the shadow minister for health—three years she has had in that position—came up with one policy, Medicare Gold, and it has now been officially scrapped by her own peers.

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You still look incompetent. You don’t know anything about Medibank—

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Lalor is on thin ice. The member for Lalor has been warned.