Scott Ryan (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Small Business and Fair Competition) Share this | Hansard source

There was no scrapping—it was a three-year program. That is what happens when programs come to the end of their life. At its core it was a failure of state governments to live up to their responsibilities, because dental care has not historically been a Commonwealth responsibility. I once thought Labor were proud defenders and proponents of the Medicare system but now they seem to be arguing that we should be means-testing Medicare or that we cannot have a particular program as it goes to the wrong kind of people, completely contrary to the notion of universality; completely contrary to the notion of universal health insurance. No-one is denied access to dental care under this program if they meet the criteria. The test is not income. While there are challenges around people in remote and rural Australia accessing health and medical care, that is just as serious when it comes to other aspects of health and medical care. So that argument does not add up.

The coalition stands by the Chronic Disease Dental Scheme. Hundreds of thousands of Australians have benefited from it. We hope hundreds of thousands of Australians will continue to benefit from it. We know the dentists have overwhelmingly acted in good faith. We know that because of their lack of experience with the Medicare system there have been some administrative oversights. But nothing the government or the Greens have said challenges the notion that these are services that have been appropriately delivered to patients in need. The small number of examples of potential fraud should be investigated and prosecuted to the maximum extent possible—but these things also happen in the broader Medicare system, so it is not logical to say that because they happen the system should be wound back. I commend the bill.