Nicola Roxon (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Health and Ageing) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I am always keen to take your advice and it is the reason that I am comparing and contrasting the performance of the Rudd government in delivering reforms in health and the performance of the Leader of the Opposition when he was the health minister. He was asked on Four Corners whether or not the Liberal Party would change the Medicare safety net. He said that the Liberal Party had a ‘cast-iron commitment, an absolutely rock solid ironclad commitment’, not to make any changes.

I got to thinking: he made a cast-iron promise, he made an ironclad guarantee. I wonder whether really Tony just has a problem with irons. There is no doubt about it, he just has a problem with irons. It was dishonest from the start. He knew that the expenses for the Medicare safety net were going through the roof. He knew it at the time of the election. He told an outright fib to the public and only seven months after they were elected he increased the threshold by a whopping 66 per cent. We know that this is a fateful warning bell for Australians who may or may not be considering voting for this man as Prime Minister of the country. He is just too big a risk to do that.

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