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

My question is to the Prime Minister. If the Prime Minister really got the message on Medicare, why do his cuts to Medicare continue for years?

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for her question. What the government committed to in the budget was to unfreeze the freeze on indexation put in place by the Labor Party. It was your freeze. What we are doing is restoring indexation in a measured and consistent way, and we are doing that to ensure that Australians have the services they need.

The Labor Party cannot rewrite history. The freeze was imposed by the Labor Party. We are restoring indexation, and we are doing that with the support of the colleges, with the support of the profession. I will ask the health minister to add to that the way in which he has secured by careful consultation the support of the doctors and allied health professionals to get to this important reform.

Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Minister for Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you very much, Mr Prime Minister. Last night we secured five historic partnerships: with the doctors, with the AMA; with the Royal Australian College of GPs; with Medicines Australia; with the Pharmacy Guild; and with the Generic and Biosimilar Medicines Association. Five fundamental partnerships, delivered in writing, which delivered reform and allowed us to reinvest in the system. Ten billion dollars of reinvestment in our health system.

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The minister will resume his seat. The member for Ballarat on a point of order.

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

Is he going to resume his seat?

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, the Minister for Health will resume his seat.

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

If the minister is going to be relevant, he needs to explain the billions of dollars of savings in the budget that he is banking on—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Ballarat will resume her seat!

Ms Catherine King interjecting—

Mr Hunt interjecting—

I have not called either of you! You can both go outside and have a chat, if you feel like it. I have asked the Minister for Health to resume his seat a number of times. The member for Ballarat can resume her seat. I refer the member for Ballarat to my previous reactions to her abuse of points of order, and warn her. The Minister for Health has the call.

Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Minister for Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Labor introduced the Medicare indexation freeze and we are removing it.

Mr Dreyfus interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Isaacs will remove himself under 94(a).

The member for Isaacs then left the chamber.

Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Minister for Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We are investing in Medicare. We are guaranteeing Medicare. We are putting $1 billion of additional expenditure into removing Labor's indexation freeze. We are putting $2.4 billion into Medicare overall. We are putting $10 billion into the health system, and here is what the AMA said: 'Farewell freeze—government wins back goodwill with positive health measures'. It said:

Lifting the Medicare rebate freeze is overdue, but we welcome it.

Michael Gannon, the RACGP—the College of General Practitioners—said the lifting of the freeze is exactly what the RACGPs' campaign was aiming for. We struck partnerships with the profession. We have delivered reform. We have delivered reinvestment. We have guaranteed Medicare in law. And these agreements will mean better access for patients, lower costs for patients and better access to medicines for patients. That is what people who really believe in Medicare do. At the end of the day, the 'Medifriends' are on this side and the 'Medifrauds' are on that side.