Trevor Evans (Brisbane, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is do the Minister for Health. Will the minister outline to the House how a stronger economy enables the government to deliver affordable access to high-cost, life-changing medicines for diseases such as renal cancer? Have other governments delivered these kinds of outcomes in the same way?

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

I think the answer about other governments is: no, they have not. And we will deal with that. I want to thank the member for Brisbane, and in particular I note that he had a tremendous career before coming to this place, including being the CEO of the National Retail Association. One of the things he learnt in that role is that, whether you want to grow a small business or an economy, you need a plan. He learnt that in order to do that, the plan starts with competitiveness; the ability to deliver better service more efficiently and more effectively. In order to do that as an economy, you have to be able to deliver more jobs, and we are delivering a million extra jobs.

Mr Hill interjecting—

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

The member for Bruce will leave under 94(a).

The member for Bruce then left the chamber.

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

Those million extra jobs are what allow us to guarantee essential services. Those essential services include: record funding for Medicare, with an additional $4.8 billion; record funding for age care, with an additional $5 billion; record funding for mental health, with an additional $338 million; and record funding for hospitals, with an additional $30 billion.

In mentioning hospitals, I should note that only a week and a half ago I accompanied the member for Brisbane to the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital. It's a great hospital, and we made a major announcement in ensuring there is better resistance to antimicrobial challenges, so making real progress. But I've seen something interesting about hospital funding recently. The Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital is in the Metro North Hospital and Health Service area of Queensland. I saw a statement from a former member of this House, Susan Lamb, who said, 'Don't cut money from Caboolture Hospital', which is also in the metro north area. I thought to myself: 'Did we cap funds? No, we added $120 million in the last budget.' Did Labor in Queensland cut funds? Yes, they did; they cut $21 million from the Caboolture Hospital region, which is the metro north region.

You can also compare what we've done in relation to new medicines and what the ALP did. On the weekend we listed Cabometyx, a new medicine for renal cancer. This can help save people's lives and protect lives. I met Gil, who said that he believed with this medicine he would have the chance of walking his daughter down the aisle early next year. That is about saving lives. But let me say this: that has not always been the approach of the other side. They deliberately delayed seven new medicines, including for in-vitro fertilisation and endometriosis. And why? Because in the end— (Time expired)