Alex Somlyay (Fairfax, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Not surprisingly, my question is to the Minister for Health and Ageing. Would the minister update the House on the success of Strengthening Medicare’s initiatives, particularly bulk-billing in Queensland? Is the minister aware of any alternative policies?

Julie Owens (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Ms Owens interjecting

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Parramatta is warned!

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Fairfax for his question and I note the extremely thoughtful and intelligent report that his committee has produced. I also observe that the GP bulk-billing rate in his electorate has increased by almost 10 percentage points in the last year. So, whatever is going wrong with state public hospitals in the electorate of Fairfax, there is nothing wrong with federally run health programs in this area.

This government does not just talk about Medicare; it invests the money needed to make a good system even better—no less than $48 billion in health and ageing programs in the current financial year. Since Strengthening Medicare was introduced in December 2003, nationally the GP bulk-billing rate has gone up by more than 10 percentage points and overall bulk-billing rates are now significantly higher than they were in 1996. Since 2003, GP bulk-billing rates in Queensland have increased by almost 13 percentage points. All this seems to have escaped the new Leader of the Opposition, who earlier this year said that bulk-billing rates in his electorate continued to head in the wrong direction. In fact, since 2003 the GP bulk-billing rate in Griffith has increased by more than six percentage points; so I suggest that one fork in the road that the new Leader of the Opposition might be inclined to take is to tell the truth in health—or perhaps that is a bridge too far for him.

Yesterday the opposition leader promised that Labor would have some new health policy in the days ahead, and I want to congratulate him for this, because since Medicare Gold was ignominiously withdrawn Labor has officially been a health policy free zone, for more than 200 days. He could start, as the Prime Minister has said, by pledging support for the Howard government’s Medicare safety net, which last year helped nearly 12,000 people in his own electorate. I can understand why the new Leader of the Opposition is terrified of making the author of Medicare Gold his shadow Treasurer, but the member for Lalor should not be allowed to wimp out of this challenge. She should not be allowed to wimp out of the challenge of being the shadow Treasurer. She should be given the chance to shine in Treasury, just like she shone in health—and hasn’t she shone in health? I leave it to caucus members opposite to judge just how brilliant she has been.