Stephen Jones (Throsby, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Development and Infrastructure) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

If you care about health then it has been a shocking year. 2014 saw probably the worst budget on record when it came to health care, and it is not much better in 2015. I am sure there are people on the other side of the House who care just as much about struggling kids as we on this side of the House do. This is why you have to wonder why they have ripped out the funding—$250 a month—for the program that was supporting kids who are suffering from inborn error of metabolism. Why have they ripped that money out?

Last year, the GP helpline took over 20,000 phone calls, often from mums with sick kids, pensioners and elderly patients looking for a little bit of advice. Do you know how many calls they are going to take this year? Zero. The reason for that is that this mean government has closed down the scheme. A few weeks ago, the minister stood up and proudly said she was re-establishing the Labor scheme on dental benefits. But, in the fine detail, they have ripped out over $125 million from the Child Dental Benefits Schedule and over·$69.6 million from the DVA dental and allied health benefit payments. At a time when we are suffering from doctor shortages, the government has cut $72 million from training places. We need a government that is going to look after health in this country.