Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'm sorry. I inadvertently made that mistake. I think that the opposition really need to improve their attitude towards health care. That would hold us to account and make us more likely to improve our discussion with them about having a universal healthcare system. I think they need to adopt the universal health insurance program that Labor has been committed to for the last half a century and stop their attacks on Medicare, but I'm not here to give a lecture to the opposition. I'm here to talk to our process of continuing to improve our wonderful health system.

I believe in our health system, and I think that this bill continues with those improvements. It will improve transparency with health costs, but I would stress that it's not just about greedy doctors charging large amounts of money; it's about how we can improve transparency and access to health care. We need to support our highly trained specialists to provide the best care they can in an equitable manner across the country. I would also like to see a huge investment, by federal and state governments, in our public hospital outpatient system, as another way of improving equitable access to health care. We do need to continue to examine our private health insurance system so that it works in the most efficient manner.

I congratulate the health minister on this bill, and I look forward to further improvements in our health system by the Albanese Labor government.

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