David Bushby (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Finally last month Minister Kim Carr was effectively shamed into a backflip after months of pressure from the coalition and the Greens—and I acknowledge that Senator Di Natale, who will be speaking after me, has also taken up the injustice behind these demands. It took every play on the field—numerous media releases, press conferences, letters to the minister, questions at estimates, questions on notice, an inquiry and this private member's bill—for this government to finally concede that retrospective changes are required to the legislation and that maybe some of the dentists involved are being treated unfairly.

And how did Minister Carr decide to make this announcement? After years of tension between government and the dental sector, after years of stress, anxiety and worry placed on dental professionals, Minister Carr decided to announce his backflip in a statement tabled to the Community Affairs Legislation Committee at budget estimates last month, so that affected dentists and stakeholders could read the news in the Age, the Sydney Morning Herald or even the Hobart Mercury over their breakfast the next day.

I will take the opportunity to add here that the announcement was neither gracious nor sincere, with accusations from Minister Kim Carr still flying throughout the estimates period in relation to alleged fraudulent activity undertaken by dentists. It is a totally and utterly disgraceful way for this government to treat a profession that has already been deliberately vilified to suit Labor's own political ends, and it leaves Minister Kim Carr, Minister Roxon and Minister Plibersek with egg on their faces.

Minister Carr has been surprisingly quiet since his May announcement, which is disappointing, because in the wake of the announcement a few weeks ago I spoke to a number of dentists with whom I have been working on this issue, and for the first time in my dealings with them they sounded optimistic and hopeful, like a huge weight had been lifted off their shoulders. I hope that sense of relief is not misguided, because yet again this government has failed to act. We have not heard or seen anything to suggest that it is willing to act quickly to rectify the legitimate concerns of the dental profession.

The dental profession is highly educated and well respected, and yet over 60 per cent of those dentists who have been audited were found to be noncompliant with the admin requirements for the first few years of the scheme. The government maintains that the education provided was sufficient and that dentists were properly informed of the requirements. If it is right, what explanation is there for the extraordinarily high level of noncompliance? I reject the notion that the dentists were not up to understanding the requirements; they are clearly intelligent people. I reject the notion that 60 per cent of participating dentists wilfully ignored the requirements; the percentage is too high for what is generally regarded as a highly honest and very professional group of people.

So what other explanation is there? I cannot think of one, and that brings me back to the assertion by the department that dentists were properly educated and trained on how to use the scheme and the compliance requirements. The only possible conclusion I can draw from the high levels of noncompliance within this program is a failure by the government to adequately educate the profession—and do not forget that dentists are not like doctors, who regularly interact with Medicare. Prior to this scheme, dentists had no relationship with Medicare; the closest was a scheme designed to help veterans, and the requirements of that scheme imposed nothing like the obligations that dentists now have to comply with under the CDDS. In essence, I think dentists have been the meat in the sandwich, and this bill is designed to relieve the pressure that has been unfairly placed upon them.