Jordon Steele-John (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the document.

Firstly, I would point out that the Community Affairs References Committee report entitled Out-of-pocket costs in Australian healthcare was completed in 2014, and 10 years later the government has only just decided that it is worth responding to. Even then, all the government bothered to say was that it had been so long since the inquiry finished that a substantive response was no longer required. Personally, I believe that the out-of-pocket costs that Australians experience in the healthcare system are still very much a pressing issue and absolutely require a substantive response.

The important report presented, which the government has ignored for 10 years—both persuasions, by the way, across the 10-year period, did not bother to respond—clearly outlines in explicit terms the action needed to reduce the out-of-pocket costs faced by Australians needing health care. I would like to commend my former colleague Rachel Siewert for chairing this inquiry. There are many interesting findings within the report that can be applied today, but the main takeaway is that out-of-pocket costs have absolutely spiralled across the last 10 years.

We are in a cost-of-living crisis, and healthcare costs are spiralling out of control across this country. The national average out-of-pocket cost to see a GP is over $40. In the electorate of Perth, you will need to pay an average of $48.64 cents to see your doctor. If we compare that to where it was just 10 years ago, the average out-of-pocket cost to see a GP was $28.58. This means that the cost has almost doubled today to see a doctor compared to what it was 10 years ago. Even in the last year, the average fee for a standard 20-minute consult appointment has risen by $3, and, if you are somebody that needs to see the GP regularly, the average cost of such a consult really hits you hard.

People are needing to pay more and more each year just to receive basic health care. Ten years ago, 5.4 per cent of people delayed seeing a doctor due to the cost. Last year that number rose to seven per cent. Seven per cent of people are delaying seeing a doctor—delaying getting a mole checked, delaying getting a new script, delaying getting a referral. This has real human impact.

The same trends are occurring with dentists. The latest Australian Institute of Health and Welfare data report shows that 30 per cent of people who need to see a dentist are delaying because of cost. Let me repeat that: 30 per cent of people in our community are delaying seeing the dentist because of cost. One in five of these individuals is delaying seeing a dentist because of cost. It is clear that health care is getting less and less affordable, and people should not have to endure this. They shouldn't have to choose between the health care they need and putting food on the table.

Last week the Greens unveiled a bold new plan to enable people to see their GP for free, using only their Medicare card. Our plan will improve the health of the community and bring down the cost of living, because no-one should have to choose between seeing their doctor and putting food on the table. The Greens will build over 1,000 new free healthcare clinics, staffed by doctors, nurses, psychologists and dentists working together to deliver good care. With at least six of these clinics in each electorate, this will enable access to free essential health care.

To pay for these clinics, the Greens will make the big corporations pay their fair share of tax. These are corporations that are making billions in excess profits by price-gouging people in a cost-of-living crisis. Yes, we will make them pay, because for too long they have gotten away with gouging people at the supermarket checkout, jacking up people's rents and making off like absolute bandits with the resources that belong to all of us, selling them on international markets at a massive profit that does not return to the community.

Only the Greens will make going to the GP free. Successive governments have failed to stop the rapid increase in out-of-pocket healthcare costs in this country. The Labor Party would rather put money into the pockets of property investors, fossil fuel companies and weapons manufacturers than into properly fund public health care. It is clear that you cannot keep voting for the same two parties and expect a different result. In the upcoming federal election, vote Green to make health care free and accessible. I seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.