Andrew Southcott (Boothby, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Labor Party just have not got the memo. They have not got the memo about the GP co-payment. The Minister for Health is making an announcement at this very moment. Unfortunately, their whole tactic of having an orchestrated campaign of 90-second statements on this for the next 30 minutes just means that they need to catch up. The announcement is going to be made that the co-payment will not exist.

But, also, there have been a lot of other claims made here about the Liberal Party's stance on Medicare. During the period of the Howard government, it was often said that we were the greatest friend Medicare ever had. When we were last in government we saw Medicare being expanded to allied health, mental health and dentistry. We were strong supporters of Medicare and remain so.

On the budget measure from last year, it is very clear that that did not have a lot of support from health professionals and medical professionals. But I have to say to the Labor Party that it is a terrible shame that the posters you have made are now going to be wasted. It is finished. It is over. We are going to go on much stronger with Medicare— (Time expired)

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