Richard Di Natale (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Health. I refer the minister to comments from the Prime Minister on 20 August that our health system is 'becoming unsustainable'. Just last week the Parliamentary Budget Office's spending projections undermined any claim of spiralling health costs, noting that medical benefits account for just 1.8 per cent in government spending over the next decade. Furthermore, a Senate committee inquiry into out-of-pocket costs for health care in Australia heard evidence from a range of experts, including Professor and Director of the Centre of Health Economics at Monash University, Jeff Richardson, who stated, 'Assertions that health spending in Australia is unsustainable cannot be justified by economic analysis.' Likewise, Brian Owler said, 'There is no evidence that our health care system is unsustainable.' Will the minister accept the advice of experts in its own department, or will the minister continue to misrepresent the state of health spending in Australia?