Jenny Macklin (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Families and Payments) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. A single-income family with two children, earning $65,000, will be $6,000 worse off because of the Prime Minister's cuts. Can the Prime Minister confirm that, if the government gets its way, families will receive the schoolkids bonus for the last time next week?

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I can confirm that we will keep the commitments that we made before the election and one of the commitments that we made was that we were scrapping the schoolkids bonus, because the schoolkids bonus is a cash splash with borrowed money. That is the problem. Members opposite think that you can keep spending money this country does not have and has to borrow, running up ruinous bills for our children and grandchildren to pay. We are not ripping off our children and our grandchildren. We are not mortgaging this country's future to sustain present spending. We are not. We are being absolutely responsible—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Gellibrand has been reminded once already. He will desist or leave.

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

and we are implementing the policies we were straight enough with the Australian people—up-front enough with the Australian people—to take to the election, like abolishing the schoolkids bonus, a cash splash with borrowed money.

For the benefit of the shadow minister who asked the question, a single-income couple where one of the parents earns an income of $60,000 a year and the other does not earn an income, with two dependents aged six to 13, will continue to receive, in the year 2016-17, $8,348 from the taxpayer. The difference between the payments we will make and the payments members opposite were promising to make is that our payments can be relied upon because our social security system is sustainable in a way that of the members opposite simply was not.

Sharman Stone (Murray, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the very hardworking Minister for Health. Will the minister update the House on how the government is making Medicare more sustainable? How will making Medicare sustainable support Australia's world-class medical research capability?

Mr Burke interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Watson has been warned.

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Minister for Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member very much for her question. I thank her for the work that she is doing, in particular, with FASD. She is very mindful of the threat of alcohol to parents and the dangers of the consumption of alcohol, particularly during the stages of pregnancy and especially in Indigenous communities. She is to be commended for that work.

In this budget, we have provided a way forward for the Australian community to continue to enjoy a sustainable Medicare system for decades ahead. But the Labor Party, as the Prime Minister pointed out before, live in this fairyland where, on the one hand, they are promising another $16 billion for the foreign aid budget in this country. They have no idea where that money will come from. They are promising to slug Australian families when it comes the continuation of the carbon tax.

Ms Rishworth interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Kingston will remove herself under standing order 94(a).

Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Minister for Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

They are promising money for families that this country just does not have. We know that, 10 years ago, we were spending $8 billion a year on Medicare. We will spend $20 billion this year on Medicare and it will continue to rise each and every year in this budget. It has risen by 42 per cent over the course of the last five years alone. I want, the government wants and the Australian population wants to make sure we can keep Medicare sustainable with an ageing population, with chronic diseases and diseases of the brain which will mean that by 2050, 7,500 Australians will be diagnosed each week with dementia and Alzheimer's in this country. We have to address those costs as they are incurred over the coming decades.

In this budget we propose to build a $20 billion capital guaranteed medical research fund that the Labor Party will never be able to spend down but from which we will be able to derive $1 billion in income each year to supplement the $750 million or $800 million a year that we spend on medical research today. When Labor were in government they spent down every capital fund that they had, but we will ensure that this fund is protected.

To fund that, we propose to keep bulk-billing but to have a $7 co-payment that, for those people who cannot afford to pay the $7 co-payment, is at the doctor's discretion, as it applies today, so we will take care of those who are most in need. But we will say to those Australians who have a capacity to pay the $7 that, yes, we want you to contribute that $7 because we cannot afford as a country to continue with 263 million free services under Medicare, as we did last year. Yes, we will provide for those that do not have a capacity to pay the $7, but out of the $7 we will put $5 into the $20 billion Medical Research Future Fund and the $2 will be contributed to doctors and healthcare providers to supplement the money that they receive under Medicare now. It will mean a $500 million windfall for those doctors and healthcare providers. That is what we will do to keep Medicare sustainable.