Jane Hume (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Health Legislation Amendment (Improved Medicare Integrity and Other Measures) Bill 2025. I alert the chamber now that my contribution won't be excessively long today, but I do think that it is very important to put things on the record because—let's face it—this bill in itself is not highly controversial but the issue of health care in Australia is a very contentious one.

The bill specifically seeks to strengthen the integrity of our health system. It implements recommendations from the Philip review to improve compliance, to deter misconduct and to protect the integrity of programs like the Medicare Benefits Schedule and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme—all noble objectives. The coalition supports this legislation. They are sensible reforms. They respond to real challenges. They improve the detection, oversight and enforcement that are necessary to ensure that our health system remains fair, accountable and sustainable.

So this is an important bill, but—let's face it—this is compliance legislation. It's important, but it's kind of dull and it's uncontroversial. So why are we all up here talking about it? Because we cannot avoid the broader reality. While the government is bringing forward this compliance legislation—this entirely uncontroversial and rather dull but important compliance legislation—Australians are struggling with the cost and accessibility of basic health care, and that's why it is so important to speak about it in the chamber today.

Those who are listening to this debate up in the gallery and via the broadcast, had they just listened to the Labor contribution, would have been subjected to the most extraordinary spin, which is not dissimilar to what we heard during the election campaign. As much as I respect Senator Darmanin and her contribution today, I've got to say, there needs to be a correction of some of the facts. Senator Darmanin said, 'When Labor came to government in 2022, it had never been more expensive nor more difficult to see a doctor.' Well, that is not true. In fact, it had never been more difficult or more expensive to see a doctor than when Labor was in office. It got worse over the last three years. GP bulk-billing was at its highest level under a coalition government. It was at 88 per cent. Under a Labor government, the 'great champions of Medicare', it fell to 77 per cent—on their watch. In the past year, there were 40 million fewer bulk-billed GP visits. That's not marginal change; that's a system under pressure. And I'll bet you that the people that are sitting up in the gallery today will nod along—it has become harder and it has become more expensive to see a GP in the last three years. Australians are now paying 45 per cent more of the cost to see a GP from their own pocket. Out-of-pocket costs are now, under a Labor government, the highest on record.

Last year, more than 1.5 million Australians actually avoided seeing their GP because they couldn't afford it. In a cost-of-living crisis, they traded away their health for putting food on the table. That's what happened under a Labor government. This isn't just coalition commentary and this isn't just some sort of convenient narrative; the government's own data told us this. And it's not just a policy issue, is it? This isn't just about dollars and cents; this is now a public health risk. Despite all of this, the Albanese government has continually relied on spin when it comes to health care. Just two months ago, we saw the Prime Minister endlessly, over and over again, promise to strengthen Medicare, as he waved his Medicare card around. He said that you won't need to rely on a credit card, because you'll have a Medicare card. What nonsense! How many Australians still rely not just on a Medicare card but on their credit card? How many people need their credit card? How many people are suffering because they will not go to a doctor, because they cannot afford to under this government?

Why won't the Prime Minister be honest with Australians about the state of bulk-billing in Australia? The government are completely out of touch with the reality of the pressures that Australians are facing every day. The fact is that Medicare bulk-billing was 11 per cent higher under a coalition government. It's an inconvenient truth, but it is a truth nonetheless, which the Labor government simply will not mention.

Under a coalition government, Medicare funding increased year on year—again, another inconvenient truth. It increased year on year because of our commitment to a strong and sustainable Medicare system. We introduced Medicare subsidised telehealth services during COVID. Initially they were temporary, but telehealth services have proved popular and now they've been made permanent for many services, and that's expanded access for people in regional areas. If it weren't for the coalition, that would not have happened. The coalition invested in primary health networks and GP clinics, especially in remote communities, which have found it so hard to access quality health care in the past. We've also supported the need for urgent care clinics. Importantly, the coalition legislated a guarantee of Medicare and the PBS, enshrining that ongoing funding into law, a profoundly important change that should give comfort to every single Australian that the coalition is on the side of Medicare and the PBS, and that we are on the side of every Australian who needs and deserves quality health care. That's a record of action; it's not a record of spin.

Compare that to what Australians have seen today: a rise in unaffordable health care over the past three years directly because of decisions this government has made. The Prime Minister has made a lot of promises. He made a lot of promises at the election, and the coalition will be watching this situation very closely every single day to ensure that every single one of those promises is met. Let's be clear about exactly what this bill does. It strengthens the administrative tools that are needed to protect the integrity of the health system. It targets fraud—that's a good thing. It improves the ability of government agencies to enforce compliance—again terrific. They were the objective the coalition supports. That is entirely uncontroversial. But the bill does not address the affordability crisis that's currently facing families, pensioners and patients in regional Australia. In other words, it fixes the back office, but it doesn't fix the front door of the health system. Labor promised to fix Medicare. They promised to strengthen Medicare. Instead GP bulk-billing has fallen, and Australians are paying the highest out-of-pocket amount on record.

The coalition will support the bill because we understand and believe that all Australians deserve timely and affordable access to the health care that they need. Of course we will. But we also believe that Medicare must work for patients, not just for compliance departments and not just for bureaucrats. Australians deserve more than slogans. They deserve so much more than slogans when it comes to their health care. They deserve more than watching a Prime Minister wave about a Medicare card and call it a promise. They deserve to be able to go to a GP appointment with only their Medicare card, as Labor has promised. By the time we get to the next election, if they have not delivered on that promise, we will hold them to account. I hope that the electorate will too; otherwise it says we're happy to be lied to by Labor. I commend this bill, but I condemn the Albanese government for its spin over substance and for its damaging record on Medicare.