Ed Husic (Chifley, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for the Digital Economy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

With the coalition, if it at first you don't succeed, try to privatise again and again and again. At the last election, the public voted resoundingly against privatising Medicare and, instead of listening to the public, the coalition had a big sook about the public campaign to save Medicare. The coalition hasn't learnt a thing. They've been caught at it again privatising Medicare by stealth. For the first time, the coalition's bringing contractors into Medicare to do the work of full-time employees. It is happening in Hobart. It is part of a secret coalition plan to get the public used to privatised delivery of service, starting small, planning big.

Labor's proud of the commitment of the Public Service to deliver service to the public. Why doesn't the coalition feel the same? The coalition's obsessed with cutting jobs or contracting out services. Right now people wanting help from Centrelink are stuck in massive queues, either on the phone or in Centrelink offices. Older Australians are forced to wait the best part of a year in some cases just to get their application for the age pension agreed to. Labor will boost jobs and improve services, investing in 1,200 new positions, especially in regional Australia, and will keep Medicare in public hands. We call on the coalition to do the same. Keep Medicare public. Stop privatising our services.