Andrew Giles (Scullin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise in opposition to the National Health Amendment (Pharmaceutical Benefits) Bill 2014. I am particularly pleased to be following the member for Kingston and to have been in the chamber for what was a very effective contribution, like that of many opposition members in this debate. I think something that is striking in this debate and quite telling in terms of the policy and political implications of this debate is the unwillingness of government members to speak to this piece of legislation. We have heard some terrific contributions from a number of my Labor colleagues today, but government members have been unwilling to join in this debate. I think that is revealing, and I can well understand why they have chosen not to participate in this conversation.

I rise in opposition to the legislation, in opposition to another broken promise and in opposition to further cuts to health. I also rise to make a contribution in support of universal health care—a core Labor value and, I believe, a core Australian value. Earlier this year, I think in February, we celebrated the 30th birthday of Medicare. It is a wonderful achievement and one that I think is central to the very fabric of contemporary Australian society—certainly to a conception of Australian social democracy that we on this side of the House hold so dear. It is part of our social compact. The shadow minister, in her contribution to this debate, very effectively reflected on this in highlighting the PBS's role in ensuring that health and wealth are not synonymous and that everyone gets those medicines that they need, not those that they can afford.

In thinking about Medicare's 30th birthday, I am also struck, perhaps because I am also 40 years old, that it should have been—

See this speech in context