John Alexander (Bennelong, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you for the opportunity to contribute to the debate on this matter of public importance. The management of our public health system is most definitely a very important matter. Australians demand the best possible health service, where their interactions are in lock-step with the best available processes and technologies. This is, of course, in the government's best interests as well because, between Medicare, aged care and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, the Commonwealth processes over $42 billion worth of payment transactions every year.

Consumers nationwide have enjoyed a shift to 'tap and go' payment systems as our cards and mobile devices are enabled to manage an ever greater variety of transactions. As a result, the health department is looking into ways to digitise transactions as part of our commitment to embrace innovation and offer the community the best options available in response to changes in the digital economy. The government will engage business innovation and technology experts to arrive at the best and most efficient solution. So, of course, at this stage the government has not made any decisions on this as the work continues.

But why let the truth get in the way of a good scare campaign? So here we go again with another inept attempt by Labor to scare consumers that a change to 'tap and go' payments will somehow be a negative for them. Our Medicare system should always be evolving. That is our duty to the constituents who elect us to represent them in this place. Commonwealth spending on Medicare is certainly evolving—more than doubling from $8 billion in 2004 to $20 billion today. Yet we raise only $10 billion from the Medicare levy. Ten years ago the Medicare levy covered 67 per cent of the cost of Medicare, but it now covers only 54 per cent. That is why this government is conducting a once in a generation review of the Medicare Benefits Schedule. And this is why it is vital for the sake of future generations that this government is always looking for better ways to deliver medical services to Australians and to provide the best quality services for each important taxpayer dollar spent.

The MBS review is looking at more than 5,700 Medicare items, with the goal of ensuring that we have the most effective modern clinical system. It is vital that as a government we are always looking at ways to identify and reduce waste and inefficiencies in the system whilst protecting the integrity of our world-class health system. The review is led by clinicians and supported by allied healthcare practitioners and consumers. The pause on indexation of MBS rebates will remain while this work continues through the MBS Review Taskforce and the Primary Health Care Advisory Group. The minister has made it clear that she is open to a future review of the indexation pause as the work on reform progresses.

In contrast to this calm and methodical approach to policy development is what we saw from those opposite when they occupied the government benches. At the 2007 election Labor promised a plan to fix hospitals and, if it was not achieved by mid-2009, a referendum to be held to seek to take financial control of Australia's 750 public hospitals. In 2008 the Labor government promised to 'slash elective surgery waiting lists'. History tells a different story: bureaucracy ballooned while public hospitals, private health insurance, dental and other areas faced funding cuts. Some $1.6 billion was cut from public hospitals and $3.5 billion was cut from private health insurance, forcing up premiums for 10.6 million Australians with hospital cover.

An area particularly close to home for me is that of the government's support for life-saving medicines being made available to consumers through the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. The coalition government has more than doubled the number of new and amended drug listings on the PBS to 913—worth almost $3.4 billion in total since October 2013. This is compared to Labor's paltry 331 listings during the last three years of their term in office. Labor signed a memorandum of understanding with Medicines Australia in May 2010 to provide 'policy certainty' to the sector in return for additional savings of $1.9 million over five years. Within months Labor had turned their back on this agreement, denying patients timely access to new medicines that had been independently assessed by the PBAC as being safe and cost-effective. (Time expired)

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