Sue Lines (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to take note of answers given by Senator Nash in relation to health. Before I do that, I am absolutely astounded by the responses we have heard from government today. We are not seeing any commitment to Australians doing it tough. We are not seeing any commitment to ordinary everyday families. All we are hearing about is this myth that everything has to be slashed and burned, and the only group in our society that is going to get any benefit is the big end of town, the business end of town.

Again, Senator Nash today in answer to questions around GP co-payments, bulk-billing by GPs and so on, just went on with the government's key theme of secrecy. It is all a secret. We all have to wait until sometime in the future when the government gets around to telling Australians, particularly Western Australian voters, just what it has in store for them.

Things are tough in Western Australia. They are tough for ordinary Australians, and all we have seen from Senator Nash, and indeed the Abbott government is: 'We're going to make it tougher for you.' So there was this refusal today by Senator Nash to give a response to a simple question:: is the government considering a co-payment? First of all, she misunderstands a very clear question and then we just get weasel words. We get a waffly response and, again, she tells us nothing.

Not only that: one of the things this government is really good at doing is not taking responsibility. It likes to blame anyone. It blames unions. It blames workers. It blames the former Labor government and then it cannot make its own decisions. It puts things out to a Commission of Audit, which has been sitting with the government for four weeks, remaining totally secret.

But things are leaking out. Peter Dutton, the Minister for Health, said on the 7.30 Reportin February that he wanted to have a frank and fearless discussion about the future of our health system. Where is that frank and fearless discussion taking place? In some secret three-person cloakroom, because it sure is not out there.