Jackie Kelly (Lindsay, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Health and Ageing. Would the minister advise the House how the Howard government is helping Australian families access after-hours GP services? Is the minister aware of any alternative policies for GPs, and what is the government’s response?

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

I thank the member for Lindsay for her question. As every parent in this House knows, when your child is sick in the middle of the night, you want health care straight away. You do not want to have to wait until the doctor’s surgery opens at eight o’clock the following morning. I can inform the House that, thanks to the indefatigable work of three great local members of parliament—the member for Lindsay, the member for Macquarie and the member for Greenway—450,000 people in Western Sydney will soon have access to after-hours house calls from a GP. That is more evidence that the Howard government solves problems. It does not talk about these issues; it solves them. This is further proof that the Howard government is truly the best friend that Medicare has ever had.

I have been asked about alternative policies. Labor have just committed $220 million of their $2 billion public hospital power grab towards a series of what they call ‘GP super clinics’. This $2 billion that they are always referring to is actually just half a million dollars a year. That is less than two per cent of the cost of running public hospitals, which is about the same as the efficiency dividend that some state governments rip out of public hospitals. They are already raiding their own piggy bank. Not only did they raid it for this $220 million for GP clinics, but just the other day they raided it for PET scanning in Newcastle. Pretty soon, there will be absolutely none of it left.

The point about their latest policy on GPs is that there are a lot of words but no real detail on precisely what extra services are going to be delivered. Here are some perfectly reasonable questions for the Leader of the Opposition and his health spokesman. Who will own and run these new GP clinics? How will these new GP clinics treat chronic disease differently? Will they be able to charge a fee for service in a way which is central to the operation of Medicare? Most importantly, will these clinics further strip medical services from small rural, regional and remote communities? Unless Labor can spell out the details of this so-called policy, it is not a policy; it is just a PR stunt. There is a strong suspicion in this so-called policy that what is really happening is that Labor is setting up government funded, salaried doctors to compete with the private profession.

But what becomes more and more obvious every time it puts out these shallow press releases is that the Labor Party does not know what it is talking about on health. The Leader of the Opposition knows that his shadow health minister does not know what she is talking about. I will quote from an article by Gerard McManus in the Herald Sun earlier this month:

Mr Rudd is a hard task master and is known to be unhappy with the performance of some frontbenchers. The body language at the recent launch of Labor’s health policy said a great deal when Mr Rudd explained everything and took every follow-up question, and has given some inside Labor to question whether Nicola Roxon will have the same role after the election.

One Labor MP suggested that the launch was a setback—

Nicola Roxon (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Ms Roxon interjecting

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

Order! The minister will resume his seat.

Nicola Roxon (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Ms Roxon interjecting

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

I have warned the member for Gellibrand. She continues to interject even when I have asked the minister to resume his seat. She will leave under standing order 94(a).

The member for Gellibrand then left the chamber.

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

I am disappointed that the member for Gellibrand is leaving, because I was about to tell her what her colleagues really think of her. I am quoting Gerard McManus. He said:

One Labor MP suggested that the launch was a setback for Mr Roxon, who was made to look like a barrel girl standing beside game show host Rudd.

That is what Labor MPs think of the shadow minister and their leader.

Sharon Bird (Cunningham, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Ms Bird interjecting

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

The member for Cunningham is warned!

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

Health is not a political game. It is about real patients—

Sharon Bird (Cunningham, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Ms Bird interjecting

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

Order! The minister will resume his seat. The member for Cunningham was warned. She continued to interject. She will leave under standing order 94(a).

The member for Cunningham then left the chamber.

Maria Vamvakinou (Calwell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Ms Vamvakinou interjecting

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

The member for Calwell has also been warned, so she can remove herself under standing order 94(a) too.

The member for Calwell then left the chamber.

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

I am just quoting a very respected journalist, Gerard McManus, who said one Labor MP suggested that the whole launch had made Ms Roxon ‘look like a barrel girl standing beside game show host Rudd’. If this is ‘disgraceful’, as members opposite are now suggesting, they should have a leak inquiry; they should find out which of their number said this to Gerard McManus. Let me repeat that health is too important to be treated like a political game by members opposite. Health is about real patients who need real services. Until Labor can come up with the real details of their policy, it is clear that they just cannot be trusted with the health care of the Australian people.