Nick Minchin (SA, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is also to the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Conroy. I refer the minister to a report in the Age on 20 February stating that before Christmas broad agreement between the Prime Minister and the free-to-air network chiefs had been reached at a meeting at Kirribilli House about ‘a cut’ to licence fees. Can the minister confirm the accuracy of this report, and if so did the minister attend this meeting? Further, I ask: on what date was the decision to award the rebates formalised by the government? Considering the minister claims this is part of a ‘package of measures’, why won’t he announce the remaining measures now that he has been forced to prematurely announce the $250 million handout to the networks?

Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have seen some of those reports in the newspapers. I can confirm that I was at the said meeting. Let me be clear—as I said yesterday—that we make no apology whatsoever for seeking to take the media sector into the 21st century. I noted yesterday that those opposite favour a commentator named Mr Peter Cox. Well let me give you Mr Peter Cox’s comments from his website entry on the digital revolution. He says:

In my 30 years in the media industry I have never seen such rapid technological, market and regulatory changes that we are witnessing today. Every company and individual in Australia is affected by the paradigm shift occurring in the media, communications and entertainment markets caused by the Digital Revolution in Australia and around the world.

In October, he went on to say:

If all these people think, out in the future, advertising is going to pay for everything, it cannot and it will not. The advertising model is not broken yet, but it is a limited model.

That is the preferred commentator of those opposite. We agree entirely with Mr Cox. That is why we have put in place a package of measures that include announcements we made in January—

Nick Minchin (SA, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Where is the rest of the package?

Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You would not have noticed, even if you were still the shadow minister for communications, Senator Minchin, but your new number in charge of shadow communications is fully aware of it because we put the press release out in January. On 5 or 6 January we put out a press release which outlined freeing up spectrum—(Time expired)

Nick Minchin (SA, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Considering that the free-to-air networks have absolutely rejected the minister’s reckless claims that they are in ‘terminal long-term structural decline’, is the minister capable of coming up with a better defence of his $250 million licence fee reduction than his irresponsible and damaging remarks about the state of the free-to-air TV industry?

Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I appreciate that you were not able to quote anyone to sustain your question, Senator Minchin. Let me repeat the words of Mr Rupert Murdoch who yesterday said, ‘It is not going to be possible to sustain the advertising model.’ He said it himself. At the News Corp shareholder meeting, he also went on to say:

In fiscal 2010, we will depend on advertising for significantly less of our total revenues across the company and I am confident this trend will continue to grow in the coming years

What we are seeing here is a model that, without the measures that this government is putting in place, is in structural long-term decline. This is a permanent shift or, to borrow from your favourite commentator at the moment, Mr Cox, ‘a paradigm shift’ occurring in this sector. So let me be very clear: this government is ahead of the game. (Time expired)

Nick Minchin (SA, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. When does the minister plan to introduce regulations to give effect to these licence fee rebates and what, if any, conditions will the networks have to meet in order to receive them?

Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have noticed that there seems to be some confusion among those opposite about what they are going to do. Last week, Mr Abbott—in his usual habit—wanted to claim it was a bribe, yet on Sunday, the shadow Treasurer, Mr Hockey, dumped him completely. It is not a bribe; it is not dodgy—not at all. So we have Mr Abbott taking one position and Mr Hockey taking another in the space of three or four days. It is very simple.

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I draw your attention to the question.

Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We will be introducing the regulation shortly and I have a very simple question for those opposite: are you voting for it or not? I will tell you, Mr Murdoch is not going to like Tony if you do.

Opposition Senators:

Opposition senators interjecting—

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Conroy, address your comments to the chair. Order! Time for debating this would normally be at the end of question time.

Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

So you are voting for it! Senator Minchin is blushing.

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Conroy, address your comments to the chair.

Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I know Hansard cannot record that Senator Minchin is blushing at the moment, but he is. He knows that they are voting for it and each and every one of those—(Time expired)

Catryna Bilyk (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Health and Ageing, Senator Ludwig. Can the minister inform the Senate of the government’s achievements across the health area? In particular, can the minister outline for the Senate—

Opposition Senators:

Opposition senators interjecting—

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Senator Bilyk is entitled to be heard in silence.

Catryna Bilyk (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

the improvements to Australia’s health infrastructure which have resulted from the government’s actions, and how does this compare to previous performance?

Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Government Business in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Bilyk for her question. The record shows that the Rudd government can be justly proud of its record on health. Here are some of our key achievements.

Honourable Senators:

Honourable senators interjecting—

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Senator Ludwig, resume your seat and when we have silence we will proceed. When we have silence on both sides, we will proceed.

Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Government Business in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Let us start with the government’s record: a $64 billion funding agreement for health and hospitals. These health dollars started flowing last year and represent a 50 per cent increase on the previous government’s funding agreement. Then there is our $600 million elective surgery waiting list reduction plan, which has already started to deliver 62,000 procedures—64 per cent more than the target of 25,000 procedures. And 125 hospitals have received new elective surgery equipment and operating theatres, with 37 hospitals around the country receiving upgrades to their emergency departments.

In addition to that, these achievements would not have been delivered under the previous Liberal government, in which Mr Abbott was the health minister. He preferred to cut the health funding, neglect services, cap doctor numbers and ignore nurse shortages. That is the record of the opposition in this regard. Let us be clear: as health minister in the previous government, Mr Abbott cut $1 billion from public hospitals and ignored the need for more nurses, despite a shortage of 6,000 nurses across the country. In contrast, under the Rudd Labor government, as part of our government’s $1.7 billion investment into building a world-class hospital system, 17 hospitals are being upgraded. What is more, as part of the government’s $430 million investment, 12 medical research and hospital workforce facilities are receiving capital upgrades. There are 12 new MBS-eligible MRI machines— (Time expired)

Catryna Bilyk (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Can the minister explain to the Senate how the government is securing the health workforce for the future and why these actions are necessary?

Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Government Business in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Bilyk for her supplementary question. Building health services for the future needs vision, planning and determination, and this government has them. We have been working to fix Australia’s shortage of doctors, nurses and other health professionals so that Australians can get the high-quality, timely care that they deserve. First, let us remember whose out-of-touch agenda got us into this mess in the first place. After the extreme measure of ripping a billion dollars from the public hospitals and capping GP training places, the result was a nationwide medical workforce shortage stretching across 74 per cent of Australia and affecting about 60 per cent of the population. This government immediately lifted Mr Abbott’s cap and increased GP training places by 35 per cent to over 800. The Rudd government has also funded 1,134 new training places for nurses. (Time expired)

Catryna Bilyk (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. Can the minister advise the Senate on additional measures the government has put in place to ensure Australia’s health workforce gets the support it needs?

Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Government Business in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to note at the outset that those people who care for and treat us are one of the major strengths of our health system and that more needs to be done to support them in their work. Since coming to office, the Rudd government has worked hard to build a strong, sustainable home-grown health workforce. We have backed clinical training to the tune of $1.1 billion, the biggest commitment to the health workforce ever by the Commonwealth. GPs will benefit from a simpler, more streamlined Medicare Benefits Schedule with higher payments for longer consultations. Bulk-billing rates are now among the highest they have ever been. Nurse practitioners and, of course, midwives will this year get access to the MBS and PBS for the first time. This will be delivered by the Rudd government after many years of delay by the former government. Comprehensive health reform is needed— (Time expired)