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

I move:

That the amendments be agreed to.

I am very pleased that the Senate has passed this historic legislation, the Health Legislation Amendment (Midwives and Nurse Practitioners) Bill 2009, which provides long-deserved recognition of Australia’s highly skilled nurses and midwives. These reforms will give nurse practitioners and midwives access to the Medicare Benefits Schedule and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme for the first time. The government has always been explicit about the fact that these arrangements will need to be provided collaboratively with other health professionals, and these amendments reflect this intention.

It is a very proud moment for the government and, we believe, a landmark day for Australian nurses and midwives. Therefore I trust that these amendments, having passed through the Senate with the support of Liberal senators, will now be supported here in the House by the Liberal Party. That will certainly be good and welcome news for all nurses and midwives across the country and the communities that they serve.

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Ageing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will not delay the House but I want to make a contribution to this debate on the Health Legislation Amendment (Midwives and Nurse Practitioners) Bill 2009. We do welcome the bill and the changes that will flow from it, but I want to highlight the faux campaign that has been run over recent days by the Minister for Health and Ageing and the Prime Minister suggesting—the minister’s own words in question time yesterday suggested this—that somehow the coalition was anti-nurse. This is such a ridiculous claim—false, misleading and completely without foundation. At no time did the coalition say that we would oppose the bill. Despite that, the minister—much to the dismay of many of the stakeholders within the industry, I might say—put out a press release and made public comments suggesting that we were going to block or not support the bill. That is again completely misleading.

Why, people might ask, would the minister mislead and try to create a faux campaign in relation to this very important issue? There are issues which we have addressed, but one which I think goes towards answering that question is this very important point: this minister is trying to create an atmosphere at the moment for people to believe that the coalition did nothing when we were in government in relation to health—which of course is a nonsense. This minister is trying to make people believe that we are against the provisions within this bill. That is a nonsense. The minister is trying to create an atmosphere of fear within the health community and to distract from the failings of this government, in particular in the health portfolio, in its first two years. There are lots of claims being spread about quite maliciously by the health minister and the Prime Minister at the moment in relation to midwives, nurses and the record of the—

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

Mr Deputy Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I am loath to interrupt, but I do not think it is parliamentary for the shadow minister to make any suggestions about malicious comments or otherwise. He is straying a long way from these amendments. I am happy for him to speak to these amendments, but I think he needs to do so in parliamentary terms.

Bruce Scott (Maranoa, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The bill is a wide-ranging bill. It is health legislation, but I would remind the member for Dickson to temper his language in relation to reflections on the minister.

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Ageing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This campaign has been conducted by the government in question time and in the public domain otherwise that somehow the opposition leader took money out of health which is completely false. In relation to hospitals in particular—and nurses work within hospitals, midwives work within hospitals—they benefit from the investment the coalition made—

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

Mr Deputy Speaker, I rise on a point of order. These three pieces of legislation are about the payment of MBS and PBS items not to staff working in hospitals but to independent midwives and nurse practitioners working outside hospitals. The member for Dickson needs to bring his comments to a relevant point. I note he still has not said that he supports our nurses in this bill.

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I remind both sides of the House that we are debating the health legislation amendment bill. I know that the point raised by the minister relates to the amendments put forward in this bill. I call the member for Dickson reminding him of the amendments before the House.

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Ageing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Absolutely, Mr Deputy Speaker, and so the distraction campaign continues from the government, but they cannot hide from the fact that the coalition government, in particular under Tony Abbott, provided record funding to the health portfolio. The fact that billions of dollars were wasted by state governments is quite separate to that. We were frustrated, as this government clearly is, by the incompetent state Labor governments in relation particularly to the ways in which they employed nurses and midwives.

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

Mr Deputy Speaker, I rise on a point of order to do with relevance. Unfortunately, if the member cannot get these questions raised in question time, that is not the issue. This is about a very specific set of bills.

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There is no point of order. We are debating the amendments. The question is that the amendments be agreed to.

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Ageing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As part of an honest debate in relation to health, in particular in relation to nurses and midwives, it is absolutely crucial that the facts are on the table. The facts are that under Tony Abbott we had a record increase in spending in the health portfolio and nurses, midwives, doctors and other allied health professionals in the sector benefited from that record investment. The question to the minister is: on what did she base her claim that the opposition was somehow anti-nurse? On what evidence did she base her claim that we were not going to support this bill?

As I said before, talking to a number of stakeholders they are absolutely amazed at the minister’s performance and the way in which she has behaved over the last 48 hours in particular. People are shaking their heads. The opposition has been negotiating with the stakeholders in good faith and yet despite all of that this minister puts out press releases suggesting somehow that the coalition was not going to support this bill. I think it shows how disingenuous this minister is not just in relation to this bill but, frankly, about an honest debate in the health portfolio full stop. It is a debate that is going to play out over coming months. This is why we have always referred to this minister as Reba Roxon because people in New South Wales will remember Reba Meagher as being a terrible health minister—

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Dickson will refer to the minister by her title.

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Ageing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

and that is where we are. We always have supported nurses and we support them through this bill. There are a number of issues, obviously, which we still have in contention with the government in relation to a number of other areas in health, but there is no question about the coalition’s support. This minister really should stand condemned for the faux campaign that has been conducted. I think it is why people within the sector really shake their heads at the incompetence of the minister for health.

Question agreed to.