Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I do apologise, Mr Acting Deputy President. When I started my speech the Deputy President was sitting in the chair and, I must say, I was so intense in exposing Labor's lies that I hadn't glanced back at the chair and seen the changeover. So I do, indeed, apologise for that. I would call you many things, Senator, but I certainly would not call you 'Madam'!

I just spent a week in hospital getting my knee replaced. I had one of the best knee surgeons going. He did a wonderful job with me, and there was an assistant surgeon and an anaesthetist. Curiously, I paid the assistant surgeon very little; I paid the anaesthetist nothing; I paid my surgeon a little bit. I would have paid him triple what I paid him, because he did such a wonderful job. But with most of those specialists, including the cardiac specialist—one of the best cardiac physicians in Queensland, who looked after me because of the valve in my heart—there was no bill at all from them. That's all paid by Medicare. That is typical of the growth of bulk-billing under the coalition government and the guarantees that the coalition have given. This is the Medicare scheme that the Labor Party told all and sundry at the last election that the coalition was going to abolish.

Time won't permit me to go through everything, but I will quickly turn to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. Since coming to government, the coalition has, on average, listed one new medicine a day on the PBS, which is the scheme for the hugely subsidised pharmaceutical provisions given out to Australians. Those new medicines are worth around $8.3 billion to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. This includes new cancer treatments, some of which cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, that are now available for a $6.40 payment on concession, or $39.50 for general patients, per script. I remember I was involved with Senator Smith in the campaign to get the cure for hepatitis C onto the PBS. That's been a wonderful boon for people who suffer from that disease. The coalition continues to increase the funding for the PBS, and bulk-billing is increasing under the coalition.

I would like to respond to some of the lies on school funding that have been propagated by the Labor Party—not just with comments but with actual facts. Under the coalition all schools will reach 20 per cent of the SRS by 2023. Investment in public schools will rise from $6.8 billion last year to $7.4 billion this year and yet the Labor Party say we've cut funding to schools. The facts simply show the truth—$8 billion next year and $13.3 billion in 2027. I have to mention the record levels of recurrent funding for Catholic schools, totalling some $6.6 billion this year and nearly $9.8 billion in 2027. On average, funding will grow by around 3.7 per cent per student per year.

These are the facts of the health and education debate. Forget Labor's lies, forget Labor's 'Mediscare' campaign and look at the facts—they show government funding increasing. (Time expired)