Michael Forshaw (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is not a nonsense, Senator Boswell. It is not a nonsense at all. Remember that every month the figures for bulk-billing rates were trending down. Of course bulk-billing was ultimately what assisted people, particularly the low paid, but it was also a fundamental component of Medicare when it first came in.

The then government did so many other things in those early budgets in 1996 and 1997. I remember, because I was here. Senator Boswell was here. I remember what they did in aged care. Do you remember they were going to impose bonds on families when older persons needed to go into a nursing home? That policy lasted only a few months, because the public rebelled. They just said, ‘We’re not having this.’ I remember what they did in terms of funding for universities. I could go on and on. I have a list a mile long. I can remember them all. So do not come in here and lecture us about supposed backflips, ill-conceived proposals and so on.

I will never forget the famous words of Mr Howard after he won the election in March 1996. He said, ‘I want Australians to feel relaxed and comfortable.’ I know how relaxed and comfortable Mr Howard feels to date. He is actually over in the United States—or was last week. Within a couple of months, he has breached one of the fundamental conventions: you do not go overseas and trash your own government. Mr Howard lectured us about that during his term in office, but he could not wait to get overseas and start telling his friends on the far Right in the United States about the supposed evils of the Labor government, because we are going to bring fairness back into the workforce.