Angie Bell (Moncrieff, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I welcome this opportunity to speak in support of the motion from the member for Lyne in relation to the LNP government's commitment to Medicare. I also defend the member for Chisholm and her delivery of her speech today in this place. The Morrison government is committed to Medicare and to ensuring that Australians are able to access the medical services they require. Under our government, Medicare bulk-billing rates for GPs and for Medicare as a whole continue to grow. The bulk-billing rates for GPs and for Medicare as a whole remained high in the 2018-19 July to March period. The GP non-referred attendance bulk-billing rate was 86 per cent, up from 85.8 per cent last year. The specialist attendances bulk-billing rate was 31.4 per cent, up from 30.9 last year. The total Medicare bulk-billing rate was 79 per cent, up from 78.7 last year.

In my electorate of Moncrieff, it's a very different story to the picture that the member for Shortland paints. The GP bulk-billing rate is 89 per cent. Last year, over 1,046,678 GP visits were bulk-billed in Moncrieff, 212,725 more than in Labor's last year in government. Australia has one of the best health systems in the world, founded on Medicare. These figures show that Medicare, under the Liberal-National government, supports the health and wellbeing of all Australians.

The Minister for Health has spoken about how the Medicare Benefits Schedule, the MBS, and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, the PBS, form a key component of primary health for patients. Beyond Medicare, the government is investing in hospitals to ensure that private health insurance remains affordable and continues to play an important part in our health system. Gold Coast University Hospital now receives record funding under our Liberal-National government. The government's hospital funding contribution to Queensland is growing 2½ times more, from 2.66 million under Labor to an estimated 6.79 million in 2024-25 under the Liberal-National government.

It's not good enough that the wait times for surgery have ballooned under Queensland Labor from 20 days to 80 days. When the new LNP state government under Deb Frecklington is elected on 31 October this year, her government has pledged to refocus on the health system, prioritise patient care and reduce the patient waiting list. Our federal health minister, Greg Hunt, who is to be commended for his work on the PBS, is also committed to preventive health measures, particularly in the area of mental health. Sadly between 2013 and 2017 the suicide death rate on the Gold Coast was 14 lives per 100,000. This was higher than the national rate over the same period of 12 lives per 100,000 people. These numbers sadden me greatly, but I, along with Gold Coasters, should be buoyed that our government is making mental health a priority. More than $60 million will be delivered to the Gold Coast in the five-year period of 2016-17 to 2021-22 for various programs for mental health and suicide prevention. I take this opportunity to recognise Southport headspace, who do an outstanding job to improve services for our youth with mental health illnesses. The Morrison government is delivering over $1.1 million in this financial year to headspace for the services they provide to those in our community in need of assistance.

Unlike Labor, the LNP government list all medicines on the independent Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee that are recommended by medical experts. In 2011, Labor stopped listening—listing, and listening, medicines on the PBS. Why? Because they could not manage the economy. They simply couldn't afford to support it. Since 2013, the Australian government has listed more than 2,300 new or amended listings on the PBS. This represents an average of around 30 listings or amendments per month—that's one per day—at an overall investment by the government of 10.9 billion. Many medicines that would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars are now available for around $40, or if you're a concession cardholder, like my dad, $6.50 per script. Ninety-one per cent of Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme scripts are dispensed to concession cardholders. It's an amazing system that works for all Australians.

Australians who live with advanced breast cancer will have access to an important new treatment option, Verzenio, which will assist around 3,000 patients. For those suffering from ovarian cancer, the government has subsidised patient costs by spending around $25 million through the PBS health system each year, and also invested 1.6 million to trial psychosocial support.

Our strong budget management means we can give Australian patients access to life-saving and life-changing medicines quicker than ever before without raising taxes. This stands in stark contrast to Labor, who failed budget management and drove the budget into deep deficit, forcing them to stop listing the life-saving and life-changing medicines that our government has on the PBS and continues to save lives under Medicare.

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