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

They are promising money for families that this country just does not have. We know that, 10 years ago, we were spending $8 billion a year on Medicare. We will spend $20 billion this year on Medicare and it will continue to rise each and every year in this budget. It has risen by 42 per cent over the course of the last five years alone. I want, the government wants and the Australian population wants to make sure we can keep Medicare sustainable with an ageing population, with chronic diseases and diseases of the brain which will mean that by 2050, 7,500 Australians will be diagnosed each week with dementia and Alzheimer's in this country. We have to address those costs as they are incurred over the coming decades.

In this budget we propose to build a $20 billion capital guaranteed medical research fund that the Labor Party will never be able to spend down but from which we will be able to derive $1 billion in income each year to supplement the $750 million or $800 million a year that we spend on medical research today. When Labor were in government they spent down every capital fund that they had, but we will ensure that this fund is protected.

To fund that, we propose to keep bulk-billing but to have a $7 co-payment that, for those people who cannot afford to pay the $7 co-payment, is at the doctor's discretion, as it applies today, so we will take care of those who are most in need. But we will say to those Australians who have a capacity to pay the $7 that, yes, we want you to contribute that $7 because we cannot afford as a country to continue with 263 million free services under Medicare, as we did last year. Yes, we will provide for those that do not have a capacity to pay the $7, but out of the $7 we will put $5 into the $20 billion Medical Research Future Fund and the $2 will be contributed to doctors and healthcare providers to supplement the money that they receive under Medicare now. It will mean a $500 million windfall for those doctors and healthcare providers. That is what we will do to keep Medicare sustainable.

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