Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. I refer the Treasurer to his statement last week on ABC's Q&A, telling a chronically ill person that they would not be hit with the GP tax, and the Australian Medical Association's response that the Treasurer 'either does not understand or is misusing the statistic or is lying'. If the Treasurer can't even get the details of his broken promise on GP tax right, why should Australia's sick and vulnerable pay for his broken promises?

Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I do not accept the premise of the question. What I said was absolutely right. I refer the shadow minister to this outstanding booklet, the budget for 2014 on health, which says:

Patient contributions will not be expected for many GP services that target patients with particular health needs, such as Health Assessments and Chronic Disease Management items.

I know that he does not read a lot, but if he read this document he would see that what I said the other day was absolutely right. As the Prime Minister said, there is a great deal of hypocrisy about this line from the Labor Party.

Bob Hawke was a real leader of the Labor Party. He had principles. He actually delivered a surplus, the last Labor surplus. Bob Hawke is a man of principle. He is a man that calls it as he sees it, and he said back in 1991 that he wanted to introduce a co-payment of $3.50 for each visit to the doctor and he was doing so because at that time the average number of visits to the doctor was about four per year. Now it is about 11 per year according to the Commission of Audit. The bottom line is that Labor thinks that this is a free ride.

Mr Shorten interjecting—

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

Order! The Leader of the Opposition will desist.

Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Labor used to believe in things. They used to have principles. Once upon a time they understood that you have to believe in things and have principles and undertake the actions in government that make sure that a safety net is sustainable. For example, if you believe the rhetoric and fearmongering from the Labor Party, you would think that a $7 co-payment by pensioners was the end of the road for 10 visits to the doctor a year. But under Labor, pensioners when they get a script from the doctor had to pay $6 for the first 60 scripts each year. So under Labor's modern integrity and under the principles that they believe to be true today, they say, no, pensioners should not pay for 10 visits to the doctor each year but they should pay for the first 60 scripts that the doctor issues. That is the hypocrisy from Labor. Not only were they the inventors of the co-payment, not only did they come up with it, and they invented the PBS co-payment—not only that—it is Labor that wanted to claim that Medicare was all their idea. Yet everything they are doing is undermining Medicare. The coalition is the best friend Medicare has—

Opposition members interjecting—

because we want Medicare to be sustainable and the Labor Party does not.