Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

Yes, they certainly do, Senator Darmanin. The challenge faced by Medicare is the election of a Dutton coalition government, because we know what they did last time. We don't have to imagine; we saw it. They'd tax GP visits, freeze funding, decimate the health system and withdraw money from the hospital system. They've done it before; they'll do it again. We know Senator Ruston herself, in her own words, has said, 'Medicare is unsustainable.' The coalition will say that bulk-billing rates were higher under them, but what they aren't saying is that that was due to an inflated number, with COVID vaccinations. Bulk-billing was in freefall when we came to government, after a decade of neglect. It faced serious challenges with Medicare, due to the mismanagement of those opposite.