Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It would be ungracious of me if I did not start by acknowledging the great local work that Senator Sterle does in his local community around the area of Forrestfield, so congratulations, Senator Sterle. Just on the weekend, we had the Leader of the Labor Party and the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Bill Shorten, travel to Western Australia. For those of you in the gallery who do not know, we have a Senate election rerun in Western Australia coming up on 5 April. I will not bore you with the details; that is a speech for another time. Mr Shorten said, 'It's a new season, not a replay of last year's grand final.' What has happened in last 24 hours? Mr Shorten's ruckman, Paul Howes, has left the team. That is not an endorsement of the team's captain.

Let me move onto Senator Moore's contribution. No-one doubts there is a debate in our country about whether or not people should be able to access medical services or, more specifically, access their GP. There is a debate in our country about whether some people are accessing a GP more than they need to and whether doctors are overservicing some patients. That is a debate we need to have. Why do we need to have that debate? Because health spending in our country is increasing by 4.8 per cent and our GDP is only increasing by three per cent. There is a health funding issue in our country. We know that real government spending has increased by 3.5 per cent over the last five years and will grow to 3.7 per cent over the medium term. Shock! Horror! The new government might be considering how we can do things better, how we can get better health outcomes for Australians. You should not be 'Shock! Horror!' that the government might or might not be considering a range of alternatives. There will be a lot of fury over possible improvements to our Medicare and health system, but it will be embarrassing for Labor when they embrace the political reality that looms large over them, because what is the history?

Indeed the idea of Medicare co-payments was one that was embraced, one that was discussed, one that found itself in the budget papers of former Prime Minister Bob Hawke. It is an idea that you have embraced. I will read from this article in the Fin Review—and indeed, it was one that was agreed and endorsed in 1991 by the Hawke government:

The co- payment Mark I of $2.50 (which in today's money is just over $4) was used as a bargaining chip by then leadership challenger Paul Keating, in his importuning of recalcitrant Labor backbenchers.

Perhaps it was sweet revenge that after Bob Hawke humiliated Keating in 1985 by nixing his consumption tax, Keating was able to return the favour by scrapping Hawke's co-payment.

When it comes to the Labor Party, politics trumps economic reality every single time.

I have a few moments available to me. I would like to give you a running account of the consideration the former Labor government gave under Bob Hawke and Paul Keating to changes to our Medicare system—changes that were not just discussed, changes that were not just thought about; changes that found their way into the budget papers of 1991 under Bob Hawke's leadership. It is totally correct. It is totally prudent for a new government to look at what it can be doing differently when it comes to government expenditure.

Let's just go back to the clear commitments the government has actually made. It has said that in the context of the National Commission of Audit it is sticking to its election commitments. It has said, 'We are not going to cut the overall level of spending in health, in education, in defence and medical research.' It has said quite rightly—and this will be in the interests of all Australians—that the National Commission of Audit is about promoting efficiency, effectiveness and identifying areas of duplication with the states and territories.

There is much work to be done, because some people in our parliament—some people in this Senate chamber—do not think that there is a problem. They think that we can continue to go the way that we have been going for the last six years. There are others on this side of the Senate chamber who believe we cannot do that—not because it is not good for us but it is not good for future generations of Australians. You want to put your head in the sand. You are prosecuting many myths around this National Commission of Audit. You will be exposed, the budget will be improved and you will continue to stay in political never-never.