Nick Xenophon (SA, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to Senator Ludwig, representing the Minister for Health and Ageing, and it relates to artificial joint replacement. In the Australian newspaper on 25 August this year, the Minister for Health and Ageing is reported to have said:

… 99 per cent of patients are provided joints that are less dependable and often more expensive than the most reliable one …

I ask the minister: is it accurate that in Australia the best prosthesis is used in only one per cent of artificial joint replacements?