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

My question is to the Minister for Health. When there is already a shortage of 20,000 nurses and hospitals are struggling to meet emergency department waiting times, why is the government now introducing a new GP tax that will increase pressure on our public hospital system?

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

This is an important topic and, as Kevin Rudd worked out when he was Prime Minister, he needed to fix the health system. Prime Minister Rudd at the time and, to her credit, Prime Minister Gillard commissioned two independent reports—first, the Bennett review and, second, the McKeon review—both of which independently came back to the then Labor government saying that our current health system in this country, with an ageing population, is unsustainable, in their own words. That was not our claim and not Labor's claim; it was the independent advice commissioned by Labor when they were in government.

Mr Champion interjecting—

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

The member for Wakefield has been warned!

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

That went back to Prime Minister Rudd. I believe that Prime Minister Rudd would have done something about the health system if he had not been chopped off at the knees. If you had not bashed him up and sent him to hospital, he would have had the opportunity to do something about health, but he never did that.

We know that, back in the Hawke years, when we had a responsible Labor government and a responsible Labor opposition, they supported sensible changes and, indeed, at that stage, they implemented a co-payment because, at the time, as Bob Hawke said, if you want to make Medicare sustainable, people have to make a small contribution.

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

The member for Ballarat on a point of order? It had better not be repeating the question.

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

The question was specifically about the GP tax. How much of the GP—

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

The member will resume her seat.

Ms King interjecting—

I said, 'Resume her seat'!

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

The way in which we have approached this task is to make Medicare sustainable.

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

How much is going to go to employing nurses?

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

The member for Ballarat will desist!

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

As our population ages, we already know that by 2050 in this country 7½ thousand Australians each and every week will be diagnosed with dementia and Alzheimer's. There is the cost of medical technology—and a country like ours wants to embrace robotic surgery and all of that, which needs to be embraced quickly in an advanced economy but which is very expensive. I want to make sure that we can pay for all of that. At the moment, we provide, for a population of 23 million, 263 million free services each year on Medicare.

I am saying that we want to have a sustainable system. As Labor supported in the nineties and, indeed, have supported since the 1960s a co-payment in relation to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, I want to make sure that those who have a capacity to pay can pay, but under this scheme we retain bulk-billing so that those who cannot afford $7 can be bulk-billed.

Labor can pretend to the Australian public and, indeed, pretend to themselves that everything can be given away for free—

Mr Perrett interjecting—

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

The member for Moreton is warned!

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

but it cannot. When we came into government, we inherited this $667 billion of debt. We are paying $1 billion a month in interest alone and, if we do not make changes, within 10 years that interest bill grows to $3 billion. So we are saying, fairly, squarely and honestly in this debate, that, if we can ask for a modest contribution, we can make Medicare sustainable.

We also put money into medical research—and we make no apology for that whatsoever. We are some of the best medical researchers in the world and we want to make sure that we can continue that work so that we can find the cures for tomorrow as well.

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

I call the honourable member for Kennedy, who is not going to be using any props.