Ken O'Dowd Flynn, National Party
2:31 pm
My question is to the Minister for Health. How will the government strengthen Medicare? What challenges does the government face in ensuring a sustainable health system?
Peter Dutton Dickson, Liberal Party, Minister for Health
I thank the honourable member for his question and for his great interest in improving the health system in Central Queensland. It is very obvious to the Australian public by now that the coalition government is not only the greatest friend that Medicare has ever had but we are the only friend in this place that Medicare has.
Unidentified interjection - Hansard doesn't record who said this
Opposition Members:
Opposition members interjecting—
Peter Dutton Dickson, Liberal Party, Minister for Health
The Australian public is quickly working this out, and I will tell you the reason why.
Opposition members interjecting—
Mrs Bronwyn Bishop Speaker
The minister will resume his seat. We will have silence.
Mr Husic interjecting—
The member for Chifley is included in that. The Minister for Health has the call and we will have some silence to listen to him. The Minister for Health.
Peter Dutton Dickson, Liberal Party, Minister for Health
The changes we make in this budget will make Medicare sustainable for a generation to come. Labor's approach was to rack billions of dollars up onto the credit card, to give services away for free, pretending that that could happen forever. Let me say this: for a population of 23 million people, Medicare provides 263 million free services per year, and Labor was tracking Medicare onto an unsustainable basis. What Labor did to Medicare is what they did to the Australian economy. They racked up debt and put it on an unsustainable basis.
Opposition members interjecting—
Mrs Bronwyn Bishop Speaker
Members will desist. The Leader of the Opposition will desist.
An honourable member interjecting—
Nobody implores me; I can hear the noise myself.
Peter Dutton Dickson, Liberal Party, Minister for Health
What we do in this model is that we have $5 of a co-payment going into a $20 billion medical research future fund to find the cures of tomorrow and to make sure that we can have a sustainable health system going forward. Two dollars of the $7 goes back to GPs—
Opposition members interjecting—
Mrs Bronwyn Bishop Speaker
The Minister for Health will resume his seat. This place is sounding like a rabble. Now, there is disagreement on this point, which is quite obvious. However, there are the people listening as well, and they want to be able to hear the answer. I would ask for some silence so that we can conduct this question time in some sort of decorum. I call the Minister for Health.
Peter Dutton Dickson, Liberal Party, Minister for Health
Ten years ago we were spending $8 billion a year on Medicare; today we are spending $20 billion. It is projected in 10 years to go to $34 billion. Over the last five years we have increased expenditure by 42 per cent. You can live in this fantasy land that Labor is in, that somehow you can continue to rack up $1 billion each month of borrowed money to pay off the interest bill alone. You can pretend that, with an ageing population, you can give all of these free services away. Or you can take a responsible approach and you can put Medicare on a sustainable path. That is what this government has done. We will make sure, as our population ages, as we march towards a country that is going to have 7½ thousand people diagnosed with dementia and Alzheimer's per week, that we can afford to—
Ms Catherine King Ballarat, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Health
How are they going to get a diagnosis if they cannot afford it?
Mrs Bronwyn Bishop Speaker
There is no decorum in that interjection. The member for Ballarat will desist.
Peter Dutton Dickson, Liberal Party, Minister for Health
provide services for those people. That is the contrast between that incompetent opposition, who were dreadful government for this country, and this government, who will set up Medicare for generations to come. We will make sure we put Medicare back onto a sustainable path. People of the Australian public, I promise you, will not be tricked this incompetent opposition.
Bill Shorten Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition
2:35 pm
My question is to the Prime Minister. Last week the Prime Minister said on 3AW that an average person—
Mr Dutton interjecting—
Bill Shorten Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition
after 10 visits would not be paying the GP tax. That is what the Prime Minister said last week. Will the Prime Minister repeat today what he said on radio last week and, if he will not, does that mean that the Prime Minister does not even know the detail of his own cuts and he is out of touch with hurting ordinary Australians with his dreadful GP tax?
Mrs Bronwyn Bishop Speaker
I call the Prime Minister.
Mr Shorten interjecting—
Government members interjecting—
The Leader of the Opposition has asked his question. The Prime Minister has the call. Those on my right will desist as well. The Prime Minister has the call.
Bill Shorten Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition
Madam Speaker, why don't you ever correct them?
Mrs Bronwyn Bishop Speaker
I just did. If you had been listening, I just did.
Bill Shorten Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition
That is the first time in a long time they have got—
Mrs Bronwyn Bishop Speaker
Oh, really? Have you not been listening today? I would ask you to withdraw those comments.
Christopher Pyne Sturt, Liberal Party, Minister for Education
Don't bully the Speaker.
Bill Shorten Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition
I withdraw.
Honourable members interjecting—
Mrs Bronwyn Bishop Speaker
We will have silence. The Prime Minister has the call. The Manager of Opposition Business?
Mr Tony Burke Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance
Madam Speaker, on the comment made by the Leader of the House: there are many allegations that get made around this place, but to claim that you are capable of being bullied is extraordinary, and the Leader of the House should apologise.
Mrs Bronwyn Bishop Speaker
Well, coming from somebody who called me a witch, I find that extraordinary. I call the Prime Minister. The Manager of Opposition Business—does he want to reiterate?
Mr Tony Burke Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance
Madam Speaker, given that it is a Harry Potter reference—every character in those novels is either a witch—
Mrs Bronwyn Bishop Speaker
There is no point of order. Resume your seat.
Mr Tony Burke Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance
Madam Speaker, every character—
Mrs Bronwyn Bishop Speaker
Resume your seat! I am sorry; I do not accept that as an apology. The Prime Minister has the call.
Tony Abbott Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister
The Leader of the Opposition has asked me to repeat something. Let me repeat this:
… there's a better way of operating a health system, and the change should hardly hurt at all. As economists have shown, the ideal model involves a small co-payment—not enough to put a dent in your weekly budget, but enough to make you think twice before you call the doc. And the idea is hardly radical.
Why is the Leader of the Opposition embarrassed by this?
Bill Shorten Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition
Madam Speaker, on a point of order—
Mrs Bronwyn Bishop Speaker
The Prime Minister will resume his seat. On a point of order, the Leader of the Opposition.
Bill Shorten Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition
I am embarrassed for our Prime Minister; that is all. In terms of what I asked the Prime Minister—
Mrs Bronwyn Bishop Speaker
That is not a point of order. What is the point of order?
Bill Shorten Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition
The point of order is on relevance, of course, Madam Speaker.
Bill Shorten Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition
I asked him about the GP tax and what he said last week. Why does this Prime Minister find it so hard to say the same thing two weeks in a row?
Mrs Bronwyn Bishop Speaker
The Leader of the Opposition has completed his point. The Prime Minister has the call.
Tony Abbott Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister
I was asked about the co-payment and I am answering about the co-payment. Let me repeat:
… there's a better way of operating a health system, and the change should hardly hurt at all. As economists have shown, the ideal model involves a small co-payment—not enough to put a dent in your weekly budget, but enough to make you think twice before you call the doc. And the idea is hardly radical.
Mr Champion interjecting—
Tony Abbott Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister
It is hardly radical, because it is the shadow Assistant Treasurer. That is the shadow Assistant Treasurer.
Government members interjecting—
Tony Abbott Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister
Why wouldn't the shadow Assistant Treasurer have said this, because the father of the co-payment was none other than—
Chris Bowen McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Treasurer
Madam Speaker, on a point of order on relevance: the question was about what the Prime Minister said last week, not what the member for Fraser said—
Mrs Bronwyn Bishop Speaker
There is no point of order. Resume your seat. You know perfectly well there is only one point of order on relevance permitted per question, and it had already been taken.
Government members interjecting—
Those on my right will desist! The Prime Minister has the call.
Tony Abbott Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister
I congratulate the shadow Assistant Treasurer! But, while what he said was right, it was hardly original. It was hardly original because the father of the co-payment was none other than Prime Minister Bob Hawke himself—none other than Bob Hawke himself. Now, Bob Hawke was a real leader. Bob Hawke was a real reformer. This man is no Bob Hawke. This is right and fair and proper, and that is why it will happen under this government.