Clare O'Neil (Hotham, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The government was caught out yesterday by using another enormous furphy to justify this unfair and inequitable budget they are trying to force through this parliament. Over the last few months we have heard so much hyperbole from those on the other side of the House about health care spending and how one of the biggest issues facing this country is the spiralling cost of health care. These guys never let the facts get in the way of a good story. We learned last night from the government's own Australian Institute of Health and Welfare that growth in health spending is at the lowest level it has been in decades.

My conversations with doctors go to the heart of what is at stake here. We have people coming into this chamber and talking about this ridiculous fallacy that there are Australians all over the country who are going to the doctor for no reason—simply because they have nothing better to do. My conversations with doctors suggest anything but. We on this side of the House think that anything that helps Australians focus more on their primary healthcare needs is going to benefit the primary healthcare system in this country. We have had a number of constituents come into my office telling us that they are going to have to stop seeing the doctor because of the Medicare copayment, and we have heard through constituents that doctors are advising their patients that they will now have to front up to the ED when they need health care but cannot afford to go to the doctor. These changes are profoundly unfair and Labor will continue to oppose them.