Nick Champion (Wakefield, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

This is what is in it. This is your election platform. It has: 'Improving the performance of public hospitals; improving mental health services; funding diabetes research; improving access to medicines; improving private health insurance; and bringing dental into Medicare.' That is what is in it. There is nothing about doctor co-payments, nothing about hacking into children's benefit schedules and nothing about cuts. There is none of that here. This was your election manifesto. This is what you took to the people at the last election.

We know that the Liberal Party has great form, particularly on universal health care, of saying one thing and doing another, because it is what they have been doing for the better part of 40 years. We had the Fraser government tell us that they were going to keep Medibank. In 1976 we had Medibank 2; in 1978 we had Medibank 3; in 1979 we had Medibank 4; and in 1981 they abolished Medibank. So, that tells you about their commitment all those years ago.

What do they say in opposition? What did Howard say? He said: 'Medicare was a miserable cruel fraud, a scandal, a total and complete failure, a quagmire, a total disaster, a financial monster, and a human nightmare.' In 1987 he said that he would pull Medicare apart. In 1987 he said that he would restrict bulk billing to pensioners and those on the welfare safety net.

Mr Taylor interjecting—

Of course, we know what happened in the intervention, and Angus just asked me what happened? Well, Fightback happened. We know that in a burst of honesty—

Mr Stephen Jones interjecting—

'Uncharacteristic honesty' as the member for Throsby says. They said in Fightback that the best way to contain services is to introduce a price signal for health services. Bulk billing will be abolished with the exception of four million pensioners, healthcare card holders and the disabled. In a brief burst of honesty in 1993 they were actually honest and upfront about what they were going to do. What happened? Well, they did not get in. So, they went back to the other plan they have which was to be completely disingenuous about universal health care, completely disingenuous, and to embark, as I said before, on Orwellian bravado.

Where are we today. Well, we have had $60 billion in cuts, we know that, and we have $2 billion extra in this year's budget. The President of the AMA, in talking about Medicare rebates said, 'If rebates don't rise, these costs will have to be passed on in out-of-pocket expenses. We'll see less bulk billing and there'll be the possibility of seeing a co-payment by stealth.' So we know where they are going. They are going to charge consumers more, and send out price signals. If you think this budget is any better than the last budget, then you are a mug. All it is is the Prime Minister's Orwellian bravado and his bull dust.

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