Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I did listen with interest to Senator Bernardi's five minutes. I would say, after making comments around Senator Dastyari's presentation, Senator Bernardi got to the budget in the last second of his five-minute speech after spending a lot of time on preselection for some reason, which was not raised too much in question time today.

I am going to focus my comments on the answer to the question that I put to Senator Nash on the $650 million worth of cuts to pathology and diagnostic imaging that were contained in the government's MYEFO in December last year. I have to say, it would only be this government that would dare to run the line that there would be no impact when cutting $650 million out of the health budget. It is probably only this government that could be that barefaced and argue that there will be no impact on patients when $650 million worth of funding is cut out of the health budget. This is off the back of $80 billion worth of cuts to the health and education budgets in the 2014 budget. This government pretended for almost 18 months to two years that there had been no cuts, only then to replace small amounts of funding—$2.9 billion in health and $1.2 billion now in education—and pass it off as new money that we should all be grateful for. I think this is the only government that could pretend after cutting $80 billion that putting $3 billion back is something we should be grateful for and is new money. This government has sought to cut the health budget in every budget and MYEFO since elected. There is a real difference between the Liberal Party and the Labor Party when it comes to attacking Medicare, when it comes to cutting hospitals, when it comes to cutting the health system.

The minister today in her answer referred to the $650 million that is being cut from pathology and diagnostic imaging which goes to supporting bulk-billing rate—over 85 per cent of consultations are bulk-billed—as 'wasteful spending'. That was a quote from the minister in question time today. She also said that the campaign to stop these cuts was based on miscommunication and scaremongering. I do not think that is correct. I think everybody who has looked at this closely understands that when these cuts come in on 1 July—and the professional groups have been very clear about this—there will be increases to the costs for people who are getting medical tests, imaging and other diagnostics. They have not only been clearly detailed by industry but also acknowledged by the government.

The way the system will work is when a bill needs to be paid, it will have to be paid in full prior to any Medicare rebate. We have been advised that patients will have to pay up-front for individual tests up to $93 for an X-ray, $396 for a CAT scan, a minimum of $85 for a mammogram and up to $186 for an ultrasound. If you need a PET scan, which hopefully you will never need, the up-front costs could hit $1,000. Let us focus for a moment on those with chronic and ongoing conditions who have to have frequent tests and ongoing tests. This incentive program has supported and maintained bulk-billing rates in pathology and diagnostic imaging. It is actually a good outcome that bulk-billing rates are sitting at about 86 per cent. It means that people are being supported to have their tests and that financial considerations do not come into it. It means they will come to get screened; they will take preventative action to maintain their good health and that is a good outcome.

This $650 million cut, which the minister referred to today as 'wasteful spending', will increase costs for patients. It will increase out-of-pocket costs and it will have pathologists and diagnostic imaging businesses reconsider bulk-billing. They will be the results of these cuts and to pretend otherwise is disingenuine.