Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The people of Newcastle are worried about what the Abbott Liberal government is doing to our national healthcare system. In June and July this year, I conducted a survey of my electorate, asking the community what mattered most to them and what issues most concerned them about this year's budget. The results clearly showed that the issue most important to the people of Newcastle is having access to affordable health care. And the budget issues that concerned responders most were the government's cuts to health and education, coupled with the new tax on visiting the GP and the increased cost of medicines. One responder wrote:

I am a single pensioner as my husband died at 47. I am against extra payments to see the GP. I am constantly at the doctors and I am under 5 specialists. I have had 4 breast cancers and many other problems and have one and a half pages of medications. If Medicare is cut I will not be able to take my medication. It won't affect Tony Abbott as he can afford it. I and lots of pensioners like myself are in the same boat. Save Medicare.

The government's justification for their cruel attack on Medicare and those less well-off just does not stack up. They say our health bill is spiralling out of control, yet the government's own Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has today reported that growth in health spending is actually at the lowest level in decades. The GP tax is bad for patients, bad for health care and bad for the budget, and the government should scrap it.