Julian Leeser (Berowra, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

My understanding of mathematics is that there are several branches. There is trigonometry; there is geometry. Today we saw a new branch of mathematics: 'Shortenometry'—that part of mathematics where the figures just do not add up. That is what we saw today from the shadow minister for health. She tried to give us this idea that, somehow, a government that has only been in office for 3½ years was responsible for a freeze that has been in place for six years. The truth is that the Medicare freeze was introduced by the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, the member for Sydney, when she was the Minister for Health in the last government.

But it should not surprise us that those opposite are misleading and deceptive on Medicare, because that is what their record has been like. That was what their record was like during the election campaign, particularly. We saw that big launch where the curtain came down, the Medicare bus was up, and we heard the Leader of the Opposition talk into the microphone with a zombie voice about the importance of saving Medicare. What they did was mislead and deceive the public about Medicare. The 'Mediscare' campaign was the most deceptive campaign ever in Australia. They scared people with robocalls. They scared people by impersonating agencies. They scared people with fake texts.

At one particular point in time in the campaign, the Leader of the Opposition was actually called on this point by Leigh Sales on 7.30 and asked the direct question: can you put your hand on your heart and look Australians in the eye and say that the coalition has a policy to privatise Medicare? What did he do? He could not answer the question. He would not say and he did not say. That is the truth, because, at the end of the day, the 'Mediscare' was one great big deception.

And why wouldn't Labor want to deceive people on Medicare? The nature of Labor Party policy in relation to health has been so bad. They cut over $6 billion, in office, from Medicare and medicines. They introduced the pause in the Medicare indexation. They cut $1.4 billion from diagnostic imaging and pathology. They took a billion dollars from Medicare for dental services and put it into a mean-tested scheme that only helped a third of the children it was supposed to help. They ripped $4 billion out of the private health insurance rebate and premiums went up 30 per cent. They broke a $57 billion hospital funding promise. And, on medical research, they tried to sneak out $400 million.

In my electorate we have seen what happens when Labor administers a health system. I was on the Hornsby Hospital community participation committee before I became a member of this House. For years, Labor in my electorate had neglected that hospital. That hospital was in such bad repair under the state Labor government that when it rained the roofs leaked in the operating theatres, possums ran amok throughout the hospital and many of the buildings and equipment had not been repaired and upgraded since the sixties and seventies. It was only when the coalition came to government at the state level that that hospital was transformed, with a new mental health unit, with a $120 million upgrade for stage 1 and with a $200 million recently upgraded stage 2 of that hospital.

That is a demonstration yet again that Labor like to talk about health but when they are actually in government they fail to deliver again and again. There was their GP super clinics promise. They promised 64 GP super clinics but they only delivered 33. Under Labor, median waiting times for elective surgery went from 34 days to 36 days. They promised to end the blame game on medical funding but they did not. It is broken promise after broken promise.

By contrast, under the coalition, bulk-billing has been stronger than ever. More Australians are visiting doctors without putting their hand in their pocket, with 73½ million GP attendances in the second half of 2016. The bulk-billing rate is at 77.8 per cent. That is a very high rate of bulk-billing. There are more services available through Medicare—$192.7 million of services. That is a real increase in this area. Then we have the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, another part of the health policy of the coalition. From 1 April, the cost of 1,100 medical brands will be reduced. People will have access to cheaper medicines for cholesterol, Parkinson's disease, depression and breast cancer—all areas that are desperately in need of funding relief, and all areas that have been assisted by the coalition's policies in relation to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme and health more broadly.

The Labor Party have no credibility, no integrity and no shame in relation to health policy. They could not deliver a surplus. You cannot trust them on 457s. You cannot trust them on education funding. Why should you trust them on anything? (Time expired)

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