Andrew Charlton (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Yesterday the Leader of the Opposition attacked the Voice. He said, 'The government hasn't provided even the most basic of detail on the Voice.' That comment about detail took me back. It took me quite a way back, to budget day 2014—better known as the day that the current opposition leader, then health minister, announced plans to charge people a co-payment for the right to visit a doctor in Australia.

Given his penchant for detail, I thought I would go back to that time and look at how much detail he provided when he was proposing to gut our healthcare system. Do you think he announced the gutting of Medicare with a 500-page report? Sadly, no. Back then a press release was enough detail. Do you think he announced the gutting of Medicare after extensive consultation with stakeholders? Sadly, no. He dropped it on Australians without a word of warning. So it turns out that the opposition leader's love of detail is something of a new-found passion—you know, one of those things you adopt later in life; you put on the chunky glasses and you start to think of yourself as a bit of an intellectual—or maybe it's just about politics, because it is curious that, when it comes to the Voice, no amount of detail is enough, but, when it was about gutting Australia's healthcare system, a press release would do!

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