Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to take this opportunity to explain exactly how these cruel and heartless cuts are going to severely affect my electorate of McEwen and highlight, yet again, the many promises that Tony Abbott has broken. Universal health care is absolutely vital for Australia and is one of the main concerns for our communities in McEwen. By introducing the GP tax, Tony Abbott is going to be charging our electorate almost $8 million a year just for being sick or injured. In regional areas such as Kilmore, Broadford and Seymour, where we have larger elderly populations, it is especially going to hurt. Our pensioners and people on fixed incomes are already struggling to make ends meet on modest incomes and now—

Mr Nikolic interjecting—

The Bass yabby—he goes on, doesn't he. They will struggle to afford to go the doctor. Let's say they can scramble together $7 to go the doctor. They may need to get a blood test done. That is another $7. Then there may be a follow-up appointment to check on their health progress. That is another $7. For those opposite, that is $21 for one ailment. What about the young families we have in areas in like Laurimar, Mernda, Craigieburn and Sunbury. A family with a couple of sick kids is being pinged $14 if they take two kids to the doctor. This heartless GP tax is hurting our most vulnerable Australians, those least able to afford it. And to add insult to injury, millionaire Joe Hockey fires off comments suggesting, 'It's no big deal, if you compare it to a pack of smokes.' He said:

One packet of cigarettes costs $22. That gives you three visits to the doctor. You can spend just over $3 on a middy of beer, so that's two middies of beer to go to the doctor.

This is why the budget is in such a mess. If the Treasurer is not competent enough to know three plus three equals six not seven, no wonder this country is in the state it is in. This budget is not worth even using as a boat anchor. How arrogant and out of touch is the Treasurer of this country to honestly believe that those who are struggling to keep their heads above water can compare their health needs to a middy. This shows just how out of touch the Abbott government really is.

By now, we know Abbott's famous quote from the night before the election, but it bears repeating: 'No cuts to education. No cuts to health. No changes to pensions. No changes to the GST.' So four out of five promises have been broken. He has cut billions of dollars from public hospitals, dental services, preventative health initiatives, bulk-billing services, planning and training programs, and of course the Medicare safety net. If he thinks these are not funding cuts, I would hate to see a budget with funding cuts from the Prime Minister.

In February this year, in a doorstop with Bill Glasson, the Prime Minister was asked: 'Can you guarantee there won't be a Medicare co-payment?' Tony Abbott replied: 'Nothing is being considered. Nothing is being proposed. Nothing is planned.' The parliamentary Pinocchio also stated: 'Don't forget, we are going to be a no surprises and no excuses government.' There you have it: he reckons this is a 'no surprises, no excuses government'. I can tell him there are millions of vulnerable and struggling people across Australia who have been absolutely shocked by the cruel budget of broken promises, especially the people in McEwen. Even the Premier of Victoria, Dr Denis Napthine, a fellow Liberal Party member, has outed more of Tony Abbott's health-care cuts and lies. Mr Napthine states:

The Prime Minister is telling Australians that the cuts will only take place post-2017. But our figures clearly show, as of the first of July... there'll be a significant reduction in funding in health and concessions in Victoria.

In his 2009 book Battlelineson page 133,Tony Abbott writes:

Commonwealth spending on health and education now approaches $90 billion a year ... Still, any withdrawal of Commonwealth involvement or spending in these areas would rightly be seen as a cop out.

So what does the PM do? His budget has an $80 billion cut to health and education. Or for the intellectually bereft up the back on the other side, 'savings' is the term they use in the budget. 'We are not spending it; we are saving it.' That is a cut by any stretch of the imagination.

I reiterate: these savage cuts to health care and the cruel taxes on GPs and medications are going to drastically hurt the livelihoods of the people of McEwen. Needless to say, we are going to fight these. In this House in September 2010, it was said of the then government:

This government is built on a lie. This is a thoroughly dishonourable and deceitful government and it deserves to be exposed as such.

Well, Mr Abbott, when it comes to your perfidious government, I could not have said it better myself.

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