Rick Wilson (O'Connor, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Health. I refer the minister to the Cockburn GP superclinic in Western Australia that was promised three years ago, is not open and is yet to see a single patient. How have the delays to this clinic affected the delivery of health services in Western Australia?

Honourable Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! There will be silence! I call the honourable Minister for Health but I would ask him—there is too much noise in the chamber—

Government members interjecting—

There will be silence on my right! Did the honourable the minister hear the question?

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

Thank you very much, Madam Speaker, I did hear the question, yes.

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Then you have the call to answer.

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

I thank the member for O'Connor for the question. It is a very important question because it is about health services in Western Australia. The problem is that the Labor Party took money and put it into great big new bureaucracies in Canberra, 12 of them in total, and it really diminished the capacity to help patients that were in need in Western Australia and around the country.

I have spoken about the GP Super Clinics Program on a couple of occasions now. When you look at the detail of what the member for Sydney claimed to be one of Labor's great successes, it really had many of the same attributes as other Labor Party public policy initiatives. The member for Sydney sits beside the member for McMahon. He was the master behind Fuelwatch and GroceryWatch. Other success stories—

Ms Catherine King (Ballarat, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Speaker, on a point of order on direct relevance: he was asked a question about GP superclinics that are providing some three million services to people in our communities—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member will resume her seat. The Minister for Health has the call.

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

Just wandered out of the jungle? The war is over! GP superclinics have been a complete failure. You promised 64; in six years you only delivered 27—but wait to hear about this one at Cockburn.

Honourable members interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! There will be silence! The chamber has become positively unseemly. We will give the call to the member for Grayndler.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure and Transport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I am sure you were just about to intervene to draw the member's attention—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I do not want commentary. The member will go straight to the point of order.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure and Transport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The standing order breach is about personal aspersions on members. The minister opposite is a serial offender—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member will resume his seat. The minister will refer to people by their correct titles.

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

The Labor Party presided—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

And perhaps it would assist the House if you would withdraw the remark.

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

I would be happy to withdraw. Please allow me then to talk about other policy successes of the Rudd-Gillard years of which the member for Sydney is most proud. The National Rental Affordability Scheme: a great success! The member for Adelaide: a 10 per cent success rate in her program.

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The minister will refer to people by their correct titles.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure and Transport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Speaker—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I presume that was your point of order?

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure and Transport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That could have been one of them, Madam Speaker!

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In that case you can resume your seat.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure and Transport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

He is in breach of most of them. My particular point of order was going to be about relevance: now he is not even talking about health.

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The minister will return to the question.

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

Certainly, Madam Speaker. I am asked about the Cockburn GP superclinic. This was promised in 2009. For those people unacquainted with this program, this was a government program where they put money into setting up clinics which were going to compete with existing GP clinics. The problem with this was, of course—

Ms Rishworth interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Kingston will desist!

Mr Champion interjecting—

The member for Wakefield is warned!

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

It was a $6.65 million program. The first sod was turned two years later in October 2011. It still has not been constructed. Yet $6 million of that money has already been given to the project, but not one patient has been seen. Not one patient has been seen!

It reminds me of other projects that the Labor Party has been associated with. Look at Centenary House, for arguments sake. It only took 17 months to construct and yet they cannot construct a superclinic within four or five years. (Time expired)

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure and Transport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I am very concerned that the minister is defying your ruling now.

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There is no point of order. The Minister for Health's time has expired.