Concetta Fierravanti-Wells (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Reynolds for the question. I have been very pleased in recent weeks to be regularly apprising the Senate of the Turnbull government's many investments in a better health future for Australians. We will invest over $6 billion over the next five years on medical research alone. Yesterday's announcement of $640 million for the National Health and Medical Research Council is only an example of this. On top of that, we've been making announcements particularly in the area of medical research in the last two months, drawing on the $100 million in the medical research future fund, not forgetting our commitment to regional and rural areas, with the appointment of the National Rural Health Commissioner. Of course, those opposite wouldn't even know where regional and rural areas are in the country. Contrast that with Labor's record in health. You cut medical research, you paused the indexation of MBS fees, you cut billions from pharmacies and medicines, and your so-called health reform was just an absolute shambles—10 bureaucracies—