Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade and International Security) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister and again refers to the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Health and Ageing report into health financing entitled The blame game: report on the inquiry into health funding, which recommends that the Commonwealth:

... should supplement state and territory funding for public dental services so that reasonable access standards for appropriate services are maintained ...

What action will the Prime Minister now take to reinstate Commonwealth funding to dental services across Australia?

John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As with all reports of this kind the government will examine it.

Simon Crean (Hotham, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Regional Development) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Crean interjecting

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

Order!

John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No. The member for Hotham is looking happy today. The government will naturally examine that report. Can I say that, historically, the delivery of dental services has been the responsibility of the states.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Those who sit opposite talk about ending the blame game. You cannot end the blame game unless both sides of the federal compact discharge the responsibilities which are historically theirs. That is the complaint we have about the states and about the Labor Party in relation to these matters. If you look at health in the broad over the last few years, you can see that the Commonwealth has injected hundreds of millions of dollars into health care. The Labor Party complains about Medicare, yet bulk-billing rates are now back to record levels: they are at record levels for older people and they are at record levels for children under the age of 16. As far as dental services are concerned, the Commonwealth contributes some 30 per cent in rebate for private health insurance and we have increased the rebates for older people. The states are responsible for the dental care of their communities, and it is about time they carried out those responsibilities.