Luke Simpkins (Cowan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Health. I refer the minister to the case of young Madison Dewar, one of my constituents with type 1 diabetes. How will the government's reforms in health make Medicare more sustainable and assist children like Madison? Who is standing in the way of these reforms?

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

I thank the member very much for his sincere concern about, in particular, children with type 1 diabetes. In our country, sadly, we have about 100,000 Australians with type 1 diabetes. It is an insidious disease. I speak on behalf of people on both sides of the House when I say that we want to find a cure for type 1 diabetes. It is absolutely necessary that we do that. At the last election, the coalition promised $35 million to provide support to clinical trials to make sure that we could increase the research effort toward that cure. In this budget, we have built on that by wanting to get together a $20 billion medical research fund so that, over years, we could have the capital of that fund secured and the $1 billion in year in interest that would flow from that fund come back into medical research. That is incredibly important, not just for type 1 diabetes but for diseases of the brain, for dementia, for all of the cancers that we need to put more effort into in relation to research. It is incredibly important.

It is the case that we inherited an enormous debt from Labor. We cannot afford to put $20 billion aside without making savings elsewhere. So, in an effort to make Medicare sustainable and stronger into the future, we have proposed a $7 co-payment. Of that $7, $5 will go into the Medical Research Future Fund so that we can help find the cures for type 1 diabetes and other important issues.

Ms Plibersek interjecting—

The former health minister interjects. Of course, she was the mastermind of waste and mismanagement within the health portfolio, more so than any minister since Federation. Her contribution and her opposition to the amount of money that we put into medical research are well known, because in 2011 the Labor Party tried to rip $400 million out of medical research, and the medical research community in this country has never forgotten that the Labor Party tried to rip that money out of medical research.

I want to make sure that not only can we put extra money into the Medical Research Future Fund but, of the $7, $2 will go to doctors in general practice so that we can continue to support—on top of the money that they get out of Medicare now—bulk-billing for those people who cannot afford the $7.

Ms Rishworth interjecting—

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

The member for Kingston will desist!

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

It is important in relation to the PBS as well. For 50 years, the Labor Party—in government and in opposition—supported a co-payment to keep our medicine system sustainable. For 50 years they supported a co-payment, and yet, for political reasons, they oppose a co-payment to keep Medicare sustainable. With an ageing population, with the need to find these cures, the coalition will fix up Labor's mess and we will make sure that we have a health system that is world class for years to come.