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. This morning the health minister said that the government's latest secret Medicare task force 'long predates me'. Prime Minister, how can your health minister possibly claim his secret Medicare task force predates him when he was sworn in as the Minister for Health in January, the secret Medicare task force met on 28 March and the task force proposal was again discussed just two weeks ago?

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The honourable member is following firmly and faithfully in the footsteps of her leader with the dishonest Mediscare campaign they ran in the last election. Let me be quite clear: we are guaranteeing Medicare, we are backing Medicare and we are funding it with more dollars than ever. And we are funding the PBS with more dollars than ever. The so-called secret is nonsense. The media reports were incorrect. The honourable member is incorrect. The matter she described is not government policy. It will not be government policy.

The minister has clearly and emphatically explained, as has the secretary of his department, that there are no plans to implement a hospital benefit, which, given that the purpose of such a policy as far as I can divine would be to undermine the private health insurance system, you would imagine would be an unlikely policy to come from our side of the House in any event—it is much more likely to come from the Labor side, I would imagine. The fact is Labor knows that their lies about Medicare are being found out, and desperate as ever they grab for one new conspiracy theory after another. The facts are that we are backing Medicare and we are guaranteeing Medicare. We are funding the PBS and we are putting drugs on the PBS that Labor would not. We are putting drugs on the PBS that save lives, that make sick Australians well, that improve their quality of life—drugs that Labor would not put on the PBS. Try explaining that to a patient. Try explaining that to one of the thousands of Australians who are benefiting from our stewardship of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. All your conspiracy theories and plots, all your secrets and scares, do not make one Australian well. They do not make up for the years of neglect of Australians who needed life-saving drugs. We have delivered. Our record is clear. We guarantee Medicare, we fund the PBS, we are defending the health of Australians. Labor are abusing it, taking advantage of it, frightening the vulnerable and, in their desperate scare campaigns, they demean their party, their record and this parliament.

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Before I call anyone, I caution the members for Lalor, Cowan and Bruce. They know how it progresses from here. The member for Ballarat is seeking to table a document?

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

Yes, Mr Speaker. I seek leave to table the transcript from Senate estimates which shows—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Ballarat will resume her seat. I now caution the member for Ballarat on two counts. I think she knows full well, given the number of times we have done this, that we do not allow documents to be tabled that are already part of the parliamentary record. Secondly, and more importantly, when she is asked to resume her seat she needs to do so straightaway and not engage in debate; otherwise, she will be leaving the chamber under 94(a)—as she has done before. The member for Mackellar.