Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Why did the Prime Minister lie to Australians and then introduce a GP tax?

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Speaker, there has been a great deal of tolerance given to opposition questions over the last 12 months—a very wide parameter. They are always full of argument, always full of inference, always full of debate. In the spirit of a robust chamber, you have allowed that and you have been very generous to the opposition. But accusing a member of the House of deliberately telling lies in the chamber in the question is stretching the parameters too far, and I would ask you to chasten the Manager of Opposition Business in the House or deal with him in a way that you see fit.

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

The fact of the matter is that this tendency to utilise what is unparliamentary language in questions is not satisfactory. I would simply ask the member for Watson to rephrase his question, and this will be the standard that we will use. We will not use those terms in a question.

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have a point of order just before I do, and I will rephrase as you have requested. But the opposition would expect that answers like what the Treasurer just gave are disorderly for the exact same reason because he used the same terms.

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

The Manager of Opposition Business knows perfectly well that the standing orders and how they are couched entirely relate to the way in which questions are asked, not answers given, with the exception of the relevancy question. The question of what is considered to be acceptable language is determined by me, in this case. So I will ask him to rephrase his question, and this will be the standard—and all the cacophony coming from behind will make no difference.

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Why did the Prime Minister break his election promises and then introduce a GP tax?

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

I said that there would be no cuts to health, and health spending goes up every year. I think members opposite might have some problems finding any statement by me in the election campaign to the effect that there would never be a co-payment, because co-payments are part of our health system. Thanks to members opposite, co-payments are a part of our system. Bob Hawke was the father of the Medicare co-payment, the shadow Assistant Treasurer was the brother of the co-payment and the member for Jagajaga there was perhaps the stepgodmother of the co-payment. She certainly authored the report that led to it.

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

The Prime Minister will resume his seat.

Andrew Leigh (Fraser, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Speaker, it is like being flayed by a warm lettuce—

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

The member will resume his seat.

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

I will make three points in conclusion. First, Medicare must be sustainable. A decade ago it was costing $8 billion, now it is costing $20 billion, a decade hence, and without appropriate action it will cost us $34 billion. This great Medicare system must be made sustainable and it will be by this government. Second, price signals in the system are not bad policy, they are good policy because they help to make people appreciate, as they do with the PBS, what they are getting largely courtesy of the taxpayer. Third, we want to see our world-class health and medical researchers properly funded and that is exactly why we are creating a world leading Medical Research Future Fund. We are absolutely up-front about the need to make Medicare sustainable. Only this government is in the business of making Medicare sustainable. The members opposite are in the business of making endless promises that this country simply cannot afford.