Andrew Southcott (Boothby, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

In addressing the future of the health system it is important to first have a look at where we are now. When you look at any number of measures you will see that the population health of Australia is one of the best in the world. There are only a handful of countries with a greater life expectancy than Australia. Australia has always followed a third way between the fee-for-service model of the United States health system and the National Health Service of the United Kingdom. More importantly, on any number of objective measures, our population health is better than that of those two countries.

As the Minister for Health and Ageing said, the Commonwealth government spends $52 billion on health and aged care. It is a substantial amount of money from the Commonwealth budget and it is a substantial amount of money in a $1.1 trillion economy. We have Medicare, which was introduced by the Labor Party but which has been strengthened by the Liberal Party. Medicare includes things such as free access to public hospitals, bulk-billing and access to subsidised pharmaceuticals. During this government’s life, we have made a number of improvements to Medicare. Just recently, in July 2007, we established the National Health Call Centre Network. That provides nurse based telephone triage 24 hours a day. In the 2004 election, we promised to have 100 per cent Medicare, up from 85 per cent of the MBS items. That was delivered in 2005. Nationally, we have seen the number of bulk-billed services increase across the country. In part, that was due to the incentives that we provided for bulk-billing for children under 16 and concession cardholders. In my own electorate of Boothby, there are almost half a million visits to general practitioners that are bulk-billed. That is 72.7 per cent of all GP services which are bulk-billed. That is a significant increase on the last three years.

We have done a number of other things. Almost all general practices are now computerised. That was achieved through the Practice Incentives Program. Information management and information technology are now a standard part of most general practices in Australia. We provided incentives for GPs to offer after-hours care. We provided incentives to allow for the teaching of medical students. Over the last eight years, we have also had enhanced primary care items in Medicare. This was to help with the management of chronic conditions and patients who need complex care. We have listened to people and improved the dental items on the MBS as well. That was in the 2007 budget. Again, that was for people with chronic illnesses and with complex care needs.

We have introduced the extended Medicare safety net for out-of-pocket, out-of-hospital expenses for visiting GPs, specialists and diagnostic services. That has been a very important improvement for families, who occasionally were hit with substantial out-of-pocket, out-of-hospital expenses for visiting specialists, doctors and diagnostic services, such as radiological services and so on. We have also improved the access to after-hours GP services. Again, in my own electorate, which I am principally familiar with, we spent $100,000 to establish an after-hours GP service at the Blackwood community hospital.

Another side of the health system is the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. We have seen a substantial increase in the amount spent on the PBS and we have introduced newer drugs for arthritis, Alzheimer’s, cardiovascular disease, cancer, psychiatric illnesses, diabetes and epilepsy. Over the five years of the current Australian health care agreements, we have increased the amount put in to public hospitals by $10 billion over the previous agreements. The next agreement, which will be a five-year agreement, will be negotiated at the end of the year.

Importantly, we introduced the private health insurance rebate in 1998. It has been very important as an incentive to keep people in private health insurance. It is 30 per cent for most people, 35 per cent for people over 65 and 40 per cent for people over 70. We have seen the number in private health insurance, which was only 33.6 per cent in June 1996, increase to 43.5 per cent in June this year. Having people in private health insurance plays a very important role in keeping pressure off the public hospital system. It has always been a very important part of the Australian health system and it is one that we are very strongly committed to.

We have had a number of other improvements, such as the Australian Organ Donor Register. Previously organ donation was done in a more haphazard way. It really depended on which state you were in. Some people would do it through their drivers licence. We have established the Australian Organ Donor Register and there are five million Australians on it. We have also improved the regulation of blood products, with the establishment of the National Blood Authority.

Indigenous Australia has been highlighted by the recent intervention in the Northern Territory. Over the last 15 years or so, we have seen a decrease in mortality from all causes in Indigenous communities and a decreased mortality from circulatory disease. So there are improvements being made, but the health of that group in Australian society is still much worse than that of the rest of the population. An important priority for any Australian government is to improve the health of our Indigenous Australians.

I want to look now at mental health services. When I was first elected I remember being part of a number of forums and seminars on youth suicide. I am pleased that the number of people who take their own life amongst younger Australians has fallen since 1997. I think that organisations like beyondblue have played a very important role in highlighting the issues of depressive illness and youth suicide.

More recently, in last year’s budget the Australian government put in $1.9 billion for national mental health reform. That included a number of things such as better access to psychiatrists, psychologists and GPs. We look at the area of public health as a very important area. A lot of our health system has been focused on intervention, but it is very important to arrest things if possible. So, for example, we can look at things like the early detection of cancer and combating alcohol and drug abuse. Over the last 11 years we have seen substantial declines in the smoking rates. We have one of the lowest rates of smoking in the developed world and one of the lowest rates, by definition, in the world. That has come about through very effective campaigns in the whole area of tobacco control. We have seen a decrease in deaths from cardiovascular disease, breast cancer and cervical cancer. We have put $1.4 billion into the Tough on Drugs strategy, including most recently $149.5 million extra for health and law enforcement especially with respect to ice.

There is still a lot more to do. It is of great concern that we see rising levels of obesity and decreased levels of physical activity. This is an important factor which predisposes people to a whole range of conditions, not least of which is diabetes. There are a number of things we have done to improve the health and activity of schoolchildren and to encourage better lifestyles in Australia. A number of other initiatives undertaken by the government include the establishment of Cancer Australia, the establishment of a national bowel cancer screening program and, since 1995-96, a fivefold increase in investment in health and medical research. These are just some of the things that the Howard government has done in the area of health. (Time expired)

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