Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by ministers to questions without notice asked by Opposition senators today.

Today we saw, in response to a question that I asked of the Minister representing the Minister for Health and Aged Care, Senator McCarthy tell the chamber that, under Labor, bulk-billing rates are lower and out-of-pocket costs are lower. It has literally never been more expensive or more difficult to see a doctor than it is right now. But, at the same time this is happening, the Labor Party are reheating their disgraced 'Mediscare' campaign in an attempt to distract from their health failures.

Let's be clear: Labor is outright telling factually incorrect information to Australians. In fact, an ABC article published today made that very clear. The ABC article has actually called out the Australian Labor Party for misleadingly editing a video of the Leader of the Opposition which perpetuates their shameful scare campaign. The coalition has been crystal clear, and I'll say it again here: a Dutton coalition government will guarantee the growing funding of Medicare. We support Australians having access to bulk-billing services, and that includes through urgent care clinics. We're focused on ensuring all Australians have affordable and timely access to a GP. But Labor don't seem to care about the truth, and it seems that they're quite happy to continue to focus on efforts to provide misleading information to the Australian public. On the other hand, the coalition is focused on tackling Labor's primary care crisis.

So let's set the record straight, shall we? As I said, Peter Dutton has committed to the coalition guaranteeing the growing funding of Medicare, and this is actually consistent with our record when we were in government. The former coalition government increased Medicare funding every single year and, in our last budget in government, included a $7.3 billion increase in Medicare funding. We increased hospital funding, and we oversaw record-high bulk-billing rates. It doesn't matter what the other side says; the facts of the matter are that, when we left government, bulk-billing rates were in excess of 88 per cent and, in the space of less than two years, under the government opposite, they have actually dropped by more than 11 per cent. As we stand here today, the bulk-billing rate is 11 per cent lower than when they came to government.

When we took the reins of government in 2013 and during our period, we saw a rise of six per cent in bulk-billing. They have seen a fall of 11 per cent. Right now, as we are sitting here, under Labor the bulk-billing rate is 77.5 per cent. That's significantly lower than 88.8 per cent, which is what the bulk-billing rate was under us, when it was at its highest. So at best we have seen a stagnation of the bulk-billing rate, but the government are now claiming that they've seen some sort of increase in bulk-billing. The facts don't lie. The bulk-billing rate has dropped by 11 per cent.

But what makes things even worse is that Australians are now paying 45 per cent more on average to see a doctor under Labor, in comparison to under the former coalition government. The cold, hard facts are that the out-of-pocket costs to see your GP are the highest they have been since records started. But the really, really concerning fact—if those facts aren't concerning enough—is that last year over 1.5 million Australians avoided seeing their doctor because they said they simply couldn't afford to do so. That's a 25 per cent increase on just the year before. That means that our hospitals are now seeing patients who are much sicker because they haven't had access at the primary care level. They are becoming sicker and are presenting at our hospitals. So Labor's primary care crisis is now exacerbating the crisis that we have in our hospitals.

I would say this to Anthony Albanese, who said to Australians that he was not going to leave anyone behind: you have left sick Australians behind. Their out-of-pocket costs are higher. They can't get in to see a bulk-billing doctor. They're sicker before they're able to interact with the healthcare system because they can't afford to see a GP. Hardworking Australians who can't access bulk-billing have become Anthony Albanese's forgotten patients. The healthcare crisis is just another crisis of the making of your cost-of-living crisis.

Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I think we need to correct some of that. It was beautifully spoken and designed to create a sense of belief that the Liberal and National parties have ever done anything innovative and are determined to make sure Australians actually get proper access to health care. But that is a myth. Australians, while they live their lives, don't see everything that goes on in this place, but they are entitled to the truth. And the truth is the party that established Medicare is Labor. Every chance the people opposite and their forebears had in government, every time the Liberal and National coalition got into government, they did every single thing they could to wreck the health system, to make you as an Australian pay more and to try and get rid of your Medicare card.

When they came to government under Tony Abbott, in 2013, I was actually paying attention. Other people were getting on with their lives across this great nation, but I went across this country, to regional, rural, remote and city locations, to document what they did. Let's be clear. There was $52 billion for a 10-year national partnership health agreement that was supposed to proceed. Mr Abbott and the team that is now Mr Dutton's ripped up that agreement and, in doing so, pulled apart and completely dismantled across this country the opportunity for our state governments to deliver primary care.

We heard Senator Ruston talking about primary health. I can tell you what happened. When they last got a go at government, under Mr Abbott they ripped up that agreement, and that meant every single bit of preventive care and community health care fell away. States kept their tertiary institutions, their hospitals, open. That's what they had to do. People who had been looked after no longer got health care. In addition to that—because they think they know something about businesses—they decided to have a crack at the businesses that were being run by our GPs. They wanted to put a $7 tax on. They implemented a freeze on the Medicare rebate, which basically kicked the legs out from under the business model of Australian GPs. That is why we have a crisis. We ended up with the massive crisis of people not being able to go to their GPs, and, because they couldn't go to a GP, they ended up in our hospital emergency centres.

We've got a few doctors in the Labor Party, and they know exactly what is being faced by Australians who seek health care. Amongst them is a very good friend of mine from the beautiful Central Coast, Dr Gordon Reid, who continues to this day, for no fee, to offer his services to support emergency care on the Central Coast. He's joined in such work by Dr Mike Freelander, who, at Campbelltown Hospital, continues to provide support for people who need it. They know a thing or two about the health system. They are the GPs and the specialists who've been at the front line. They tell the truth. And they saw the system decay before their very eyes. Dr Gordon Reid, very wisely, pushed for and had accepted by the Labor Party the urgent care clinic model. Now, across this country, every seat in the country is begging for an urgent care centre, because the need is so great.

There were no Medicare cards for any Australian before Labor brought them in. There were no mental health services through headspace before Labor brought them in. There were no urgent care centres for this country till Labor brought them in. There's a pattern there! The biggest threat to communities, the threat that will take away urgent care centres, is the election of a Peter Dutton government. Those opposite have absolutely no commitment to the policy innovation that gives Australians access to the health care they need through urgent care centres across this country. The biggest threat to your health is a Dutton led government. Give Labor your vote. Hang on to Medicare, hang on to headspace and hang on to our urgent care centres.

Paul Scarr (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Multicultural Engagement) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That was a lovely speech by Senator O'Neill, and I always admire Senator O'Neill's rhetoric, but let's look at the facts. The facts are these. When the coalition government left office, the bulk-billing rate was 88 per cent. The bulk-billing rate has now fallen to 77 per cent—it has actually fallen. It has gone from 88 per cent to 77 per cent, so it has fallen 11 per cent—fact.

Here's another fact. Over 1.5 million Australians—just reflect on that—didn't go to a GP in 2023-24, because of concerns about costs. In the Albanese Labor government's cost-of-living crisis, over 1.5 million Australians in 2023-24 chose not to go to a GP, because of costs. That's the impact of the Albanese Labor government: people aren't going to see their GP, because they're concerned about the cost. That's another fact.

I want to talk to you about the results of a survey in relation to the region where my senator's office is located, the greater Ipswich region. In 2022-23, in the greater Ipswich region, an outer suburban area in South-East Queensland, the bulk-billing rate—that's the number of clinics with available slots for new patients—when the coalition left office was 59.5 per cent. In 2023-24 it fell to 37.8 per cent. Only 17 out of 45 clinics with available spaces were providing bulk-billing. We now find, with the latest statistics released by Cleanbill, that the percentage has fallen further. It is now at 30 per cent. So in 2022-23, shortly after the coalition government, there was 59.5 per cent bulk-billing in the greater Ipswich region. Fast forward a few years to 2024-25 and it has gone from 59.5 per cent to 30 per cent. That is why in the last year 1.5 million Australians were so concerned about costs that they didn't go and see their GP. That is the direct result of the Albanese Labor government's cost-of-living crisis. Only 15 out of 50 clinics in the Ipswich region and the Somerset region, in the greater Ipswich region where my office is located, provide bulk-billing. What a devastating figure!

I can tell you that in our region there are a lot of people who are doing it tough. The most recent analysis undertaken by the University of New South Wales for the Four Corners program that aired recently looked at household financial stress across the whole of Australia. It found that over three out of four households in the greater Ipswich region are under financial stress. Over 77 per cent are in financial distress, and that means that those households are barely covering the necessities of life: housing, clothing and food. That is why you have 1.5 million Australians not seeing their GP; they're concerned about the cost.

You'll hear a lot of rhetoric from the other side about the money that's been spent: 'We've done this. We've done that.' But when you look at the raw figures, those figures don't lie. The Cleanbill survey was conducted by an independent organisation that contacted 6,925 GP clinics across Australia. It found that the bulk-billing rate in the Ipswich region and the Somerset region had fallen from 59.5 per cent a few years ago to 30 per cent. So the figures don't lie: the bulk-billing rates under Labor are falling.

Louise Pratt (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Again, in the opposition's questions in question time today and in their response in the debate now, we see just a political agenda but, somewhat surprisingly, as we go into an election, no policy at all. From Medicare and housing to antisemitism, they're quick on the attack, but that is accompanied by selective hearing and selective facts.

Let's turn first to housing. The last government absolutely abandoned social housing and any kind of national housing initiative through the Commonwealth. The opposition, when in government, turned its back on remote Indigenous communities in areas of dire housing need—communities where the Commonwealth had had a long history of sharing the load of building and maintaining houses—and I believe a Dutton government would do exactly the same.

Equally, under the Rudd government we saw a massive uplift in social housing. Places like St Pats, which I've been pleased to visit, that house people at otherwise extreme risk of homelessness were funded during that period. Now, through the Housing Australia Future Fund, we have a substantial agenda to deliver hundreds of thousands more houses for our nation.

On the question of Medicare, what a joke it was to hear that critique from those opposite. When the opposition say, 'The facts don't lie,' they have pretty selective facts, let me tell you. When the opposition say bulk-billing has fallen by 11 per cent, they're actually comparing it to all of the bulk-billed injections done by the Commonwealth government during COVID, where people walked through the door and got their jab. That's what they have counted as '100 per cent bulk-billed'. Today's bulk-billing rates are actually pretty close to what they were under the last government, but we don't think that's good enough. We want to see that lifted, which is why we are investing in the bulk-billing incentive. It's why we have opened 87 Medicare urgent care clinics that are demonstrably diverting patients away from busy hospitals and emergency departments.

Finally, I come to the topic that Senator Cash started with in question time today, trying to score political points off these appalling antisemitic comments taking place in a hospital in Bankstown, New South Wales. I looked up this particular incident on the internet, and it is, indeed, appalling. The holding of such views, as Senator Wong pointed out, is a contravention of federal law under Ahpra, which is the accreditation and standards body that coordinates health bodies. I daresay those comments will also be an offence under the hate speech laws that we have just passed. But, rather than focusing on what was being done to hold these workers to account and to stop it from happening in the future, Senator Cash wanted to invent some kind of idea that the Prime Minister should have done something other than what he did. Did Senator Cash want the Prime Minister to march into the hospital and sack them himself?

Andrew McLachlan (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Pratt. Set the clocks for three minutes. Senator Bragg.

Andrew Bragg (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Home Ownership) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In rising to take note of the answers given today, I think the main point is that the government has been very good at building bureaucracies but very bad at building houses. The government made building more houses its central pitch for election, and we heard today—in the pre-prepared answer from the minister in response to a dorothy dixer—that the government had built more houses. That is factually incorrect. All you need to do is ask the Parliamentary Library, like I have, what the average number of houses built under the last government was and how many have been built under this government. The answer is, on average, about 190,000 each year under the last government, the coalition. Under this government, it has fallen to 170,000.

I believe the central reason for this is linked to the faith in this Housing Australia Future Fund agenda, which is a federal government bureaucracy. Minister Wong says it's not reasonable for us to ask questions about this because we voted against it. We did vote against it, and we voted against it because it's a bad idea that bureaucracies in Canberra can build houses in all parts of Australia. Nonetheless, that legislation passed a year and a half ago. I would have thought that in a year and a half the government's central housing scheme, the Housing Australia boondoggle, would have been able to sign a few contracts, dig a few holes and build a few houses.

What it has done is make announcements. In September, the Prime Minister made an announcement with the new Minister for Housing, Ms O'Neil, saying that they will build 13,000 houses. Minister Wong referred to this yesterday and today, saying that 13,000 houses are in the pipeline. At Senate estimates at the end of last year, when we asked Housing Australia how they're going in building those 13,000 new houses, the answer was that they had signed one contract. Since then, they've signed another 11 contracts, so now they have 12 signed contracts. Contracts are fantastic. It's great to have pieces of paper, and we have lots of paper here in this building. But what actually matter are shovels and the assembly of bricks and mortar. That is what counts. That is why we've made the point that it appears that the Housing Australia Future Fund is on a duck. It's on a duck. It's built no houses, and that is because the government have put all of their faith in bureaucracies when they should have been backing the market. They should have been backing builders and developers to build us out of this housing crisis Labor have created.

Question agreed to.