Mary Doyle (Aston, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Health and Aged Care. Forty years on, why is it important to strengthen Medicare, and what is the Albanese Labor government doing to ensure that Medicare remains strong?

Mark Butler (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the terrific member for Aston for that question. We're joined in the chamber today by a delegation of nurses here celebrating primary health care nurses day. They are nurses working in general practice, working in other primary care settings, and I welcome them to the chamber.

There are about 75,000 primary care nurses in Australia, and under Labor every single one of them will receive a tax cut on 1 July. The member for Aston also reminds us that this month we celebrate the 40th birthday of the most important social program in Australia, Medicare. Before that day, 40 years ago, one in seven Australians didn't have health coverage, and unpaid medical bills was the leading cause of personal bankruptcies in this country. But all of that changed overnight. Thanks to that landmark Labor reform we now live in a country that has a healthcare system that is number one in the world when it comes to health outcomes and when it comes to equity.

But as I have said on many occasions, it is a system under pressure. I said yesterday bulk-billing rates, particularly for visits to the GP, were in free fall when we came to government. That's why the Treasurer tripled the bulk-billing incentive in last year's budget. That's not only stopped the slide in bulk billing rates; in the first two months we saw 360,000 additional free visits to the doctor, which I have talked about a bit last week.

I wasn't the only one out last week talking about bulk billing. Surprisingly, the Leader of the Opposition also broke cover and, apparently with a straight face, said on Tasmanian radio this: 'When I was health minister bulk billing was at 84 per cent. They're well and truly below that now.' Good on him for acknowledging the inheritance that his predecessor as health minister, the member for Sydney, left him, but perhaps he could have explained a little more clearly for those listeners in Tasmania what he did with those bulk billing rates. Perhaps he could have reminded them—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Manager of Opposition Business, on a point of order?

Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Government Services and the Digital Economy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On relevance. It was a commendably tightly drafted question, with no reference to alternative policies, so there is absolutely no licence or basis for this minister, who is another serial offender, to be on the territory that he is presently on.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The question contained 'What is the government doing to ensure it remains a strong?' I'm going to make sure that the minister in his answer remains relevant to that part of the question. It does not invite an open compare and contrast but he's entitled to describe why it needs to be strong.

Mark Butler (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I was asked why it's important to strengthen Medicare. The Leader of the Opposition himself pointed out that bulk billing rates have declined since he was health minister. Perhaps he could have reminded listeners that he said as minister at there were too many free Medicare services. Perhaps he could have reminded them he tried to abolish bulk billing and introduce a fee for every single Australian every time they visited the doctor, and then introduced a Medicare rebate freeze that lasted for six years and ripped billions of dollars out of all health care.

He might have not told the listeners of Tasmania all that, but I tell you this: Australia's doctors and nurses will never forget what this man did when he was health minister. Australia's patients won't forget it either. They know exactly what he'll do if he ever gets his hands on Medicare again.