Mark Coulton (Parkes, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is always a very great privilege to follow the member for Throsby. He certainly puts some effort into his speeches, even if they lack any substance. I have been in this place long enough now that it might be time to reflect on a bit of history around health. Let's go back to 2008 when Kevin Rudd was the Prime Minister and we had wall-to-wall state Labor governments. In my electorate in Dubbo, at the time of the then Premier—I cannot remember if it was Iemma, Carr, Rees, but it was a Labor government; it does not matter who the leader was—the local staff were buying supplies from the local vet to keep the hospital going. Then Kevin Rudd came along. Remember the revolution in health? Remember we had a revolution in a lot of things? We had the revolution in health, which was the policy where the Prime Minister dressed up as a doctor for an entire year and travelled the countryside having photo opportunities, looking very serious in hospital surgical wards and waiting rooms to show his concern for health. Despite the fact that hospitals and health are the primary responsibility of the states, he saw this as a wonderful opportunity to have his health revolution. What did we end up with? Does anyone remember the GP superclinics? There were going to be 150 GP superclinics, I think; we ended up with about seven. Then we had the Divisions of General Practice Network that was working very well; it was under the imprimatur of the doctors, they had ownership of it, and it was providing services in that space. We ended up with the Medicare Local. Despite the fact that we still do not know what a Medicare Local is or what it does, we saw large amounts of federal funds go into these Medicare Locals. The GPs lost confidence in the primary health system. I have to say it has taken a new minister and government to restore some semblance of normality into the primary healthcare system.

We have heard a lot of talk here from the shadow minister and others about our children and the health of our children. But I ask you one thing: will our children be thankful when they get older and those of us in this room, the baby boomers, get to the stage of needing high-level care? It is a fact that we are going to be the generation that will live longer than any generation in the past. Are they going to be thankful for the fact that, when they go to the cupboard to fund aged care and health care when we reach a peak in 2030, the cupboard is completely bare? Will they be grateful that we will be paying every cent to cover the interest from overseas debts that the Labor Party incurred when they were in government? What we owe to the people of this country, especially the younger people, is to be responsible. We need to have a medical system that is sustainable and will cover the needs of this country into the future. Quite frankly, when it comes to caring for the elderly and sick, this is as good as it is going to get. We are facing a huge crisis coming up. It is about time that those opposite stop trying to pretend that we can solve a problem like this by throwing money around and by wearing surgical garb and dressing up as doctors.

I am going to pay a tribute to my state colleagues in New South Wales. A month ago, the Premier came out to Dubbo and opened stages 1 and 2 of the Dubbo Base Hospital. In the last 18 months, 30 new doctors have moved to Dubbo. There are new hospitals at Gulgong, Parkes and Peak Hill in the central west. The people of the west are getting genuine care, and confidence is being put back into the health system.

The Medicare Locals are a failure, and we have moved on. GP superclinics are one of those tales that our grandchildren will tell around the campfire in years to come, saying 'Remember when grandad talked about the greatest health failure in all time— (Time expired)

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