Ms Catherine King (Ballarat, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer to the AMA President's comments today about the unfair GP tax, and I quote: 'It would be bad, particularly for vulnerable patients, and if you cannot win over the parliament or the population it is time to admit there is a problem with the policy instead of being petulant.' Why is the government so intent on introducing an unfair GP tax by any means to make vulnerable Australians pay just to see their doctor?

Opposition Member:

An opposition member interjecting—

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

If the member opposite does not have the guts to ask me a question, I will answer it anyway. Let me say this—

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Rumpole, come on.

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Minister for Health will resume his seat. The member for Isaacs on a point of order.

Mark Dreyfus (Isaacs, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Attorney General) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I would ask you to direct the minister to withdraw the disgraceful imputation that he has just made.

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There was so much noise, I could not even hear it. If the minister has, in fact, made an imputation, it would assist the House if he would withdraw.

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am happy to withdraw it. When the Labor Party were in government—people will remember the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd years—it was six years of absolute disaster in this country. It was absolute disaster. They received two separate reports telling them 'the health system is currently unsustainable'. What did the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd governments do about it? Nothing at all. They spent more money on health bureaucracy and they took money away from front-line services. The commitment of this government is to get more money back to doctors and nurses and away from Labor's spin doctors. It is true here and it is true in Victoria as well, because the Victorian government, under the leadership of David Davis, has got the health system back on track. He has got it back on track in primary care and in tertiary care as well.

When it comes to Medicare, 10 years ago, as the Prime Minister rightly pointed out before, we were spending $8 billion a year on Medicare. Today we will spend $20 billion a year; bearing in mind that from the Medicare levy we raise $10 billion a year, there is a $10 billion gap and it is growing rapidly. In fact, over the last five years, it has grown by 34 per cent, and we know that within 10 years time it will almost double again. Now the people who say that that is sustainable are, really when look at it, the Labor Party. The Labor Party are the only ones who suggest, somehow, that giving away millions of services each year is free.

The proposal by the coalition government is to make sure that we can provide support by retaining bulk-billing for those who cannot afford a $7 co-payment, but we have said we will ask for a modest co-payment so that we can strengthen Medicare. At the same time, yes, we do want to put money into a Medical Research Future Fund—why? Because in states like Victoria, we know that for every dollar that we put into medical research, we get a $2.17 return, and in states like Victoria we have the great capacity to put those jobs into place in areas like the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, an outstanding institution within Victoria.

If we can put more jobs into Victoria, we can find the cures of tomorrow. We would not have Gardasil today if we had not invested into medical research in years past. The money that we put into medical research today will provide better care models so that we can have a sustainable health system into the future. Not only will we have more jobs in the medical research sector in areas like Victoria; we will also provide for tomorrow's cures. That is the commitment of this government. We will make Medicare sustainable. We will take care of those that need to be protected, and we will strengthen the health system of the 21st century.