Katie Allen (Higgins, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Health and Aged Care. Will the minister please outline to the House how the Morrison government has continued to protect the health of Australians throughout the COVID-19 pandemic?

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

I thank the member for Higgins for her question and her service to the nation through her career both in the parliament and before the parliament.

Importantly, we know that the pandemic has accelerated this year. Sometimes it's lost that there were approximately 80 million cases last year and there have been over 120 million cases this year alone, so far, as part of a global pandemic. There were 1.8 million lives lost last year, and there have been nearly 2½ million lives lost already this year. The pandemic that so many predicted would finish within one year has accelerated and expanded globally during the course of this second year.

Against that background, we've maintained, extended and expanded our long-term national health plan. As part of that, COVID protection has been fundamental; I went through some of those elements earlier on. Critically, we have put in place arguably the most significant reform of Medicare since its formation with the creation of telehealth. Over 68 million consultations have now been carried out. That's had a profound effect on the delivery of health services around Australia not just in response to COVID but on an enduring basis. It has helped transform the way that health services will be provided to older Australians, to parents with young children and in particular to people in rural, remote and Indigenous Australia. At the same time one of the things we've had to do is ensure powerful mental health supports. We've not seen an increase in the suicide rate, despite predictions, and that's an immense national achievement. But we have not seen a decrease in the suicide rate, despite all efforts. So there's more work to be done on that front.

But what we have done is to put in place mental health support in the pandemic, which has inevitably saved lives and protected lives. That has been expanded just on the weekend with the extension of the HeadtoHelp program in Victoria and the expansion of it to New South Wales, with 10 new clinics, including seven across Sydney and three across rural and regional New South Wales. But, at the same time, we've expanded Medicare, going from $19 billion when we came in to $30 billion, $31 billion, $32 billion and $33 billion over the forward estimates. We've seen, in the last year, 30 million diagnostic services and we've seen well over 100 million pathology services that have all saved lives and protected lives. And there has been expansion of the PBS, with a new drug commencing on 1 August: Evrysdi for spinal muscular atrophy, which will give a hundred children a chance at a better life, a longer life and a safer life. All of these things are saving lives— (Time expired)