Sam Dastyari (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Tax and Superannuation Laws Amendment (Medicare Levy and Medicare Levy Surcharge) Bill 2016 on behalf of the opposition. I commence my remarks by saying that Labor supports the bill. Labor welcomes the indexation of income thresholds below which Australians do not pay the Medicare levy or Medicare levy surcharge. This means that lower income Australians will not be subject to the levy. This bill increases the Medicare levy low-income threshold for a number of different people. It increases the Medicare levy low-income threshold for individuals and families along with the dependent child/student component of the family threshold in line with movements in the consumer price index. It also increases the Medicare levy low-income threshold for single taxpayers and families eligible for the seniors and pensioners tax offset in line with movements in the consumer price index so they do not have a Medicare levy liability where they do not have a an income tax liability. The bill also increases the Medicare levy surcharge low-income threshold in line with movements in the CPI. These measures apply to the 2015-16 income year and later income years.

Like last year Labor will support this bill and, like last year, Labor will ironically applauded the Turnbull government for this all too rare example of decency amidst the unfairness and focus of looking after vested interests and big banks. This is a regular process that ensures that the most vulnerable Australians are not disadvantaged while maintaining their access to Medicare, our world-class universal health system. Nevertheless, we find this bill to be another reminder of the Abbott-Turnbull government's attacks on Medicare—of their GP tax, their $650 million cut to Medicare payments for pathology and diagnostic imaging and now their plan to axe the Child Dental Benefits Schedule.

This measure will provide a small amount of tax relief for some less well-off taxpayers, but let's be clear: this government is still taking in more taxes that Labor did in government. They talk about bringing down taxes but in fact the tax to GDP ratio is rising under this government. If the Treasurer's latest thought bubble is to be believed a small tax cut might be in order for those earning above $80,000. But that is cold comfort for 75 per cent of Australians, who earn under $80,000 annually.

Labor notes that since 2013 the living standards of Australians have been declining. A better measure of living standards and GDP is something the boffins call 'real net national disposable income per capita'. That measure is down four per cent in two years, leading to some commentators to describe the decline in living standards as an 'income recession'. This is particularly alarming, given the longer-run context: over the past generation earnings have risen three times as fast for the top 10th of workers as for the bottom 10th. The top one per cent share has doubled, as has the number of private helicopters. The number of private jets has tripled, and yet one in five families say they cannot afford a week's holiday away from home.

Labor understands the need to raise living standards, which is why the Australian people can trust us to stay focused on addressing inequality. This is reflected in the important social policy report by my colleague, the shadow minister for families and payments, Ms Macklin, Growing together, which shows a path towards a more egalitarian nation, and the commitment by the shadow minister for employment, Mr O'Connor, to defend penalty rates, minimum wages and the role of unions.

Labor's commitment to the fair go is reflected in our new tranche of multinational tax avoidance measures, demonstrating that it is Labor that continues to lead in making sure the tax affairs of multinationals are transparent. In fact, during this election term, Bill Shorten's Labor team has released over 70 practical policies in education, health, tax, housing affordability, climate change, infrastructure start-ups, innovation, marriage equality, domestic violence, the sharing economy, competition policy and more.

So while Labor supports this technical annual measure, we note the Liberal's history of Medicare, from Fraser to Turnbull. Australians know that if they want a party that gets tough on multinationals to vote Labor. If they want a party that gets tough on Medicare then vote Liberal.

On 1 February this year, Medicare celebrated its 32nd birthday. Although this bill is a tax bill which is dealing with the essential taxation arrangements which underpin and fund Medicare, at the heart of this is Medicare, which is a critical social innovation. That social innovation was directed at ensuring that Australia was different to many other countries around the world, where wealth inequality has a direct trajectory to health inequality. The reason it is different was the genius of Labor prime ministers Whitlam and Hawke, who put in place a system whereby we could fund a person's access to primary care in the general taxation system by establishing an additional levy upon wages, which at that point in time was around one per cent of wages, ensuring that through a progressive taxation scheme we could fund the primary and associated care needs of this country. Of course, it has expanded over the years, but at the heart of that social innovation was a scheme which meant access to a GP and other parts of the primary healthcare system was available for all Australians.

This bill is necessary to ensure that the income thresholds continue to represent that progressive idea behind the scheme—to ensure that we continue to adjust them, as the member for Fraser has outlined, so that they cut in at exactly the right level. This bill is technical. It indexes the income thresholds below which Australians do not pay the Medicare levy or the Medicare levy surcharge. We have dealt with similar measures in previous years. This is a regular process that ensures the most vulnerable Australians and those from the lowest end of the income scale are not disadvantaged, while maintaining their access to Medicare. Labor therefore supports the measure.

The bill is a reminder to millions—maybe, even to every Australian—about how important Medicare is to them. It is a devastating reminder to all Australians about the shameful record that this government has when it comes to Medicare. Unfortunately, the progressive measures in indexing the Medicare levy and the Medicare levy surcharge are well and truly outweighed when it comes to the rest of the government's record on Medicare over the last 2½ years. We have lived through the Abbott-Turnbull government's attempts to dismantle Medicare and to introduce a GP tax—Mach 1, 2 and 3—and now the GP tax through the back door, being the freezing of Medicare rebates.

When we consider the importance associated with this bill we must also consider the things that are not in this bill and the other damage the government is doing through its regressive Medicare changes. I would like to talk a little bit about pathology, because any of the thousands of Australians who have needed a pathology test at one of the 5,000 collection centres around the country recently would have noticed the warnings that are being issued by the pathology sector. The pathology sector is not known for its radicalism. Pathologists are not known as radical supporters, and particularly not for this side of parliament. So to walk into a pathology collection service, or indeed many of the GP services around the country, and to see warning signs posted and petitions on the counter warning about the egregious cuts that are being made by this government and are about to be implemented on 1 July this year—the reduction in Medicare bulk-billing arrangements—means people are quite rightly shocked. People all over Australia came to us as senators and asked us to explain what was going on from 1 July this year and why there was a threat they would no longer be bulk-billed for their pathology tests. Liesel Wett, the Chief Executive Officer of Pathology Australia, has said:

These unfair cuts would see patients having to pay for services from July this year.

She has pointed out, as constituent after constituent has pointed out to the opposition, that, if they have to pay the full up-front fee, they simply do not have those blood tests. For many people, not having a blood test may not be a critical threat to their health and wellbeing, but, for any of the thousands of electors in my home state who are suffering from diabetes, having a regular blood test is absolutely critical. If laboratories decide they have to implement this co-payment, we will see patients forgoing having their blood tests, and people's illnesses will get worse. If a person is undergoing a course of chemotherapy, they will be regularly required to have blood tests as part of their post-treatment care. It is these people who are going to be the most affected by these changes. If someone is undergoing a course of chemotherapy then chances are they have had to leave work and their income has been severely affected by that illness, so it is hitting them at the most vulnerable time in their lives. I cannot see why this government is putting these changes in place. Constituent after constituent has said to the opposition, 'This is a threat to us.' It is going to impact on them.

I have spoken on the importance of considering the equity measures contained within this bill, which adjusts the threshold, the point at which Medicare rebates cut in against the iniquitous measures that have been visited upon Australian people as a result of this government's attacks on the Medicare rebates for pathology, along with the attacks this government has made in relation to the Child Dental Benefit Scheme. Despite what has been said by the Minister for Health, the fact is that this government is slashing $1 billion from dental care in this country. It is a figure which has been confirmed by the minister herself. On ABC News Online on 23 April, a spokesman for Ms Ley confirmed the $1 billion cut. The government is abolishing Labor's Medicare-based dental scheme for children under the age of 18.

It is a surprise to all of us on this side of the house that we have not seen members on the other side of the chamber come up and apologise for the cuts and problems that are visited by their government upon the people within their home states. The opposition has been looking at the figures. During question time in the other place yesterday, the minister said that a million children—that is right: one million children—have enjoyed the benefits of Labor's child benefit scheme, and a million children will no longer have the benefits of that scheme, because the government has closed it down.

The opposition has had a look around the country to see where children have been relying on this means-tested, tightly targeted scheme, which is benefiting kids, many of whom would probably never have been to a dentist before in their lives. Take, for example, the postcode 2250, a postcode which takes in the electorates of the members for both Robertson and Dobell. The opposition found that 31,309 children had accessed the dental benefits scheme over the years of its existence in this postcode within the electorates of Robertson and Dobell. I am not surprised that we have not seen the members for either Robertson or Dobell say anything about the operation of this scheme, because we know that, in closing down the Child Dental Benefit Scheme, somewhere in the order of 31,000 children are going to be forced to join the public dental scheme, a scheme which has, at the moment, somewhere in the order of 12,000 children already waiting in New South Wales to access public dental care.

We looked at the figures for postcode 2259, which falls exclusively within the electorate of Dobell and where 29,657 dental services have been accessed over the life of the scheme. The member for Dobell has not had a peep to say about her government closing down the scheme. All I can say to the electorate of Dobell is that it is a good job we have a great candidate in the form of Emma McBride, who is campaigning very tough and very hard in the seat to ensure that she becomes the next member for Dobell. I am confident that Emma McBride has the interests of those 29,000 children who have been accessing the Child Dental Benefit Scheme in her heart as she approaches the task of election campaigning.

In the electorate of Page, where there are around 28,500 children who have accessed the Child Dental Benefit Scheme, the opposition went looking around to see whether the current member for Page has had anything to say about this. He has absolutely nothing to say about the fact that this government has closed down this scheme. This is a surprise because, if anyone thinks of the impact of closing down the benefit, it is going to fall more harshly upon people in regional Australia. It is in regional Australia where Labor's scheme provided up to $1,000 over a two-year period to access the services of a private dentist. It is precisely in regional Australia where these services are needed the most, because it is a lot harder for people in these areas to access the public schemes, which are so heavily oversubscribed. It is a good job that we have a great candidate in Janelle Saffin, who knows the electorate well. She is a fierce campaigner for regional Australia and regional health who will be standing up for the children in that electorate as well.

The member for Gilmore had a bit to say before question time in the other place about the benefits of the government's new scheme for people in her electorate. She said it was going to be a huge help for the people in the electorate of Gilmore. If this is a huge help, I would hate to see what would be there if there was a problem for the people of New South Wales and Gilmore. The waiting lists in New South Wales are so long and so great that Premier Mike Baird has refused to even issue average waiting times. In other states around Australia waiting times are published by the public dental scheme so that people know when they enrol or make an appointment how long it will be before they have access to the public scheme. With over 116,000 adults—that is, adults alone—and 12,000 children on the list in New South Wales in those electorates that I mentioned earlier, they are going to be behind a lot of people in a very long queue for access to the public scheme.

There are $1 billion worth of cuts for the scheme opened up to everybody. There are over 116,000 adults and 12,000 kids on the scheme in New South Wales, and those in the coalition think that this is absolutely beautiful. It is a good thing that we have great candidates in places like Gilmore, Dobell and Robertson putting the health interests of people in regional Australia first.

There it is: a government that introduces measures which adjust the threshold at which the Medicare rebate kicks in, a provision which Labor supports. We support it wholeheartedly, but it has to be viewed against all of the other egregious changes that have been made, from the GP tax proposals, the GP tax by stealth, the changes to pathology bulk billing and the changes to the dental benefits scheme. We are well and truly in a deficit when it comes to health and health care under this Turnbull government.