Sue Boyce (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I also rise to speak on this very worthwhile bill that Senator Bushby has put before the Senate. I think it is to their shame that the government themselves have not undertaken this. But why would we expect it? They are so into the prospect of the politics of envy that they even cannot see their way clear to be fair when they have created a very unfair situation. Clearly the dental community of Australia has been added to the government's list of rich organisations that just deserve to be slammed—rich individuals who should be struck down and criticised and slandered at every opportunity simply for trying to go about their job. The unfairness of the whole situation for dentists I think could be very ably remedied. Unfortunately, despite the government's need to admit how poorly they have performed in this area, with Minister Kim Carr coming out and saying, 'Yes, we will stop persecuting these dentists now that you have finally forced us into that situation,' the persecution of dentists under this scheme has been appalling.

Everyone in Australia would see a universal dental care system as being a long-term goal to be achieved. We all know that oral disease and disorders create short-term and prolonged physical discomfort. Pain, infection and tooth loss are the most common consequences of oral disease. It can cause difficulties with chewing, swallowing and speaking and can disrupt sleep and productivity. The National Survey of Adult Oral Health 2004-06 indicated that, of the Australian population, 17.4 per cent avoided foods due to dental problems, 15.1 per cent experienced toothache and 21.6 per cent experienced orofacial—jaw, for the non-dental amongst us—pain. Dental disease can lead to destruction of soft tissues in the mouth, leading to lasting disability and, in rare cases, death. It is an ongoing problem. International research indicates that there are associations between chronic oral infections and heart and lung disease, stroke, low birth weight and premature birth.

What do we see from this government in response to that very serious chronic problem that the coalition identified and sought to redress with their Chronic Disease Dental Scheme, which Senator Fierravanti-Wells has spoken of? She pointed out the statistics on the huge success of that program, which did look at the ongoing issues in the general health area, and for the economy, caused by chronic disease. What did the government want to do? They wanted to get rid of that system and introduce instead a voucher system for teenagers, which was not even designed to make available any real treatment. It was simply preventative. Yet we already know that there are many young children and many teenagers with very poor oral health and very poor teeth because public access has been restricted by the states and others.

The long-term solution here is genuine access to a dental health system, not this government's attempts to persecute a few dentists who, in most cases, made technical mistakes trying to use a system that has achieved a great outcome for people but of course was much maligned, opposed and abhorred by the Labor government, who saw something successful that was giving a decent return to dentists who undertook treatment and giving real solutions to patients. Far better, from this government's envy politics position, to rip that out and persecute the people who were assisting those with chronic dental problems.

Debate interrupted.