Jane Prentice (Ryan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak in support of (1) and (b) of the motion on dental services. It is indeed of great importance to have a well-resourced dental system, which will improve the oral health of not just our most vulnerable citizens but all Australians. As part of that system, we need well-trained and well-supported dental graduates, who will play a crucial role in improving the oral health of our nation. However, with respect to (2) and (3) of the motion, I note that in 2012 the then Labor government withdrew government support and funding for some of our most vulnerable citizens—those with chronic dental problems.

The previous Labor government dismantled the Medicare Chronic Disease Dental Scheme after Prime Minister Abbott introduced the scheme during his time as health minister of the Howard government. The coalition was concerned to see that the many patients receiving treatment under the CDDS were left in the lurch. Labor at the time promised to effectively replace the CDDS with their Child Dental Benefits Schedule and a program for adults that was not intended to start until July 2014—some 19 months and one election later.

What the then Labor government simply did not seem to understand was that chronic dental problems are just that: continuing and ongoing problems. Chronic dental problems do not disappear simply because the funding disappears. Australians suffering from a chronic dental disease cannot simply wake up one morning and say: 'Well, the government has cut a program that greatly improved my quality of life. My problems will suddenly go away too, and I will be better.' No, these poor victims of chronic dental disease were made victims of Labor's chaos and mismanagement. They were left out in the cold for almost two whole years.

The news was little better for sick children using the scheme. They would have to wait 13 months until January 2014 and would have their benefit cut from $4,250 to $1,000 over two years. I understand that more than 60,000 services have been provided to children through the CDDS. These were children—children who were not able to have their treatment completed. The then Labor government, with their Greens partners in support, were asked to explain why these children were left to suffer for 13 months with unfinished treatment and no certainty of the schedule of services that were to be provided under Labor's new scheme well over a year later.

With many unable to afford the full cost of private treatment, this had serious health, economic and social ramifications for those suffering from chronic dental disease. This was a shameful decision that coalition members opposed and tried to stop in the parliament. Eighty per cent of patients under the chronic disease dental scheme were concession card holders, and they were being shoved out into the cold by Labor's decision. The Labor government had promised it would replace the scheme with a more limited program, but for adults that was not scheduled to start until July 2014, a 19-month wait. If you have ever had a toothache, Mr Deputy Speaker, you know that 19 hours is like an eternity, let alone 19 months. And, if you already have cancer, a heart condition, diabetes or another major health issue, a failure to treat your teeth can cause further health implications.

Labor simply did not have their priorities straight in the health portfolio. The failed former health minister, the member for Sydney, has no credibility. Under her tenure, Labor cut $1.6 billion from state hospitals in the 2012 Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook. Labor holds up the great $650 million GP Super Clinics Program as a huge success, yet, seven years after they were promised and announced, many are not even open. Many remain just vacant blocks of land.

Labor spent a lot of money in health, but it was wasted on a new supersized bureaucracy and program cuts like the failed superclinic program. Labor failed to deliver any extra benefits for patients. Only the coalition government is working towards a stronger, more efficient, health portfolio where the focus is put back on the patients rather than the bureaucrats.

I commend the member for Kingston for drawing the House's attention to the importance of dental health. But I must question why she supported the last Labor government in dismantling the chronic disease dental scheme, leaving our most vulnerable citizens stranded without support. Hypocrisy, thy name is Labor.

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