Fiona Nash (NSW, National Party, Deputy Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the senator for his question and for some notice of the topic. I can advise the chamber that the advice that I have received is that the minister will be making some announcements about the future funding in the near future as part of broader reforms.

What I can indicate to the chamber is that we propose some very sensible changes relating to dental reform. Under the Child and Adult Public Dental Scheme, we were going to see all children under 18, 5.3 million children, and adults with concession cards, five million adults, able to access a new scheme. We wanted to move away from the old scheme, the Child Dental Benefits Schedule, because it failed to reach a significant number of children. Only one in three of the eligible children were treated. It was only used by a third of the three million children that had been promised by Labor. There are $4 million worth of incorrect claims under investigation.

What we have been trying to do is to put in place a scheme that was better. That scheme was going to give states certainty for the first time by enshrining that in legislation, and that certainty, as we all know, for the states and territories is very important.

The senator does raise the question, clearly, about 31 December. I can indicate that an announcement will be made in the near future, but it is very clear that what we were trying to do—and had there been agreement from the other side, we could already have in place that Child and Adult Public Dental Scheme, which was going to provide better outcomes for people across the country in relation to dental.