Mehmet Tillem (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am shocked. This is astonishing. I wish to speak to the motion concerning the answer given by the Assistant Minister for Health. Today we have seen the government embark on a policy that is scaring Australians. Costs for medical care will go up and the fear is so great that those people who are sick—the elderly, the young, the unemployed—will not be able to afford health care in this country. The government wants to change the Medicare care to a credit card. We have a system which provides for everyone, which looks after those who cannot afford it, but this government is going to rip the heart out of universal health care, rip the heart out of affordable medication and put the burden back on those who are sick. Make no mistake: this is a tax on being sick and unwell.

Doctors are reporting that patients are cancelling appointments or not turning up because they fear they cannot afford it. This is not a scare campaign; this is what is going to happen. A media report today says that the AMA considers this an ill-though-out policy. The AMA is an interest group and their interest is in health care. The Hippocratic oath says first do no harm but that is what this government are doing. They are causing harm to the average Australian who is sick and unwell. Those who want preventative medication or health care are not going to be able to get it. It is not just about paying $7 when you go to see your GP; it is about the payment required for diagnostics, for blood services, for scans. These services are not cheap. The costs will mount. Before you get an MRI done you will have to pay up front. The rebate is being reduced, it is reported.

Senator Boyce talked about a scare campaign. No-one needs to run a scare campaign because every Australian is afraid of what is going to happen to health care in this country. It is astonishing that the assistant minister got up in the Senate and did not answer a single question concerning what those in the community are saying about their fears and their concerns. Day after day we ask questions of the assistant minister and we get no answers. We have had floundering responses about irrelevant things.

Some interesting stats were released in relation to people in rural and regional Australia, as well as those of a lower socioeconomic background. The COAG report has found that close to 16 per cent of Australians do not have their prescriptions filled because they cannot afford them. There is a delay because they fear the costs, that they are unable to pay from medications. This, compounded with what is going to be an additional burden, is what is scaring the Australian community.

We will see, with the increase in medical costs, that more and more Australians will rock up to emergency wards in hospitals and this will no doubt put a massive strain on our hospitals. I am not sure that this is something the government has considered or even modelled. By cutting access to front-line health care through locals and GPs we are increasing the burden on the hospital system. I am yet to hear the Assistant Minister for Health address that issue. My fear is that the damage that will be done to Medicare by this government will be irreversible. I will argue the case in this place for as long as I can.

Question agreed to.