Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Minister for Health) Share this | Hansard source

That will make Medicare sustainable. We understand that Jenny Macklin, as she then was, was the author of a paper that was relied on by Mr Howard, the then health minister for Bob Hawke. History dictates that we have to do something sensible to reform Medicare, and we do it in this budget. Labor wasted billions of dollars in the Health portfolio. In this budget we provide Australia with a way to strengthen and sustain Medicare for decades to come. We are absolutely determined to clean up Labor's waste and get Medicare and health back on track. We increased hospital funding. We increased funding within the Health portfolio in this budget. We will do it in a way that will set up Medicare for a decade.

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