Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The people of Newcastle, and, indeed, all Australians, could have been forgiven for thinking, when we saw the appointment of a new health minister, that this might mean a new approach to health. Regrettably, that was clearly too much to hope for. While the government wants to pretend that it has finally given up—indeed, buried—versions 1,2,3,4 and 5 of its deeply unpopular GP tax, we know from the budget that it will nonetheless press ahead with the freeze on Medicare rebates in order to save some $13 billion across the next four years. We on this side of the chamber know that when you freeze those rebates the costs are passed on to the patients. That means massively increased out-of-pocket expenses for the people we represent in this parliament.

The Abbott Liberal government has done nothing since being elected other than attack Medicare and universal health. This budget inflicts even more damage. It includes an additional $2 billion of cuts to health and it backs in the $60 billion of cuts to public hospitals that we knew about before. In my region of Newcastle there is a lot of anxiety about the loss of after-hours GP access right now. The government needs to provide secure funding for primary healthcare services like after-hours GP access now. (Time expired)