Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I'm unsurprised that Senator Ruston laughs at an additional $1.7 billion to fund public hospitals and health services for another year. I'm unsurprised that Liberal senators laugh at record levels of funding, with $33.91 billion for 2025-26. That will be delivered to every state and territory to help cut waiting lists, reduce waiting times in emergency rooms and manage ramping.

Of course, this is on top of all of the historic investments that Labor have made to Medicare as part of our work to build Australia's future, delivering the largest boost to Medicare rebates in decades, more in two years than they did in nine. The fact that they laugh at public hospital investment really shows the contempt with which the coalition looks at Medicare. It shows the contempt with which they treated Medicare and the health services that Australian families need.

Unlike them, we believe Australians should be able to access affordable, reliable health care. That's what we believe. We don't believe health is a laughing matter. We believe that it is a part of what we do in government—provide health services to Australians. That is in comparison to those opposite, who cut $50 billion from public hospitals while Mr Dutton was health minister. (Time expired)