Claire Chandler (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by ministers to questions without notice asked by Opposition senators today.

As many in this place and many listening along to what happened in question time today would know, the last hour is the opportunity for senators to ask questions of the government to gather answers about what the government is doing to make lives better for everyday Australians. It's a very key accountability tool that we have in this place. Frankly, it should be an opportunity for the government to showcase leadership and how they are delivering for Australians. And, particularly given we had an election only a couple of months ago, I would have thought it was an opportunity for the government to demonstrate how it is fulfilling its election commitments. But, frankly, we heard none of that today, at least not in the responses of the government to the questions asked by the coalition.

Speaking of that election campaign, I think we all remember—and we heard it mentioned in question time today—how the Prime Minister, during that campaign, couldn't appear at any press conference without flashing his Medicare card at the cameras. It was almost like the card was surgically attached to his hand—and I question, if that was done, whether that surgery was bulk-billed! That Medicare card became a symbol of the Prime Minister's promise to the Australian people. He claimed that under Labor all you'll need is your Medicare card, not your credit card. Senator Wong said that they're doing everything they can as a government to ensure that Australians can see the doctor for free, and the way you do that as a government is through bulk-billing. But, in reality, the facts tell a different story.

We've seen this week, with documents released under freedom of information laws, that the health department's own advice clearly demonstrates that nearly one in four GP clinics in this country will not bulk-bill, even under Labor's incentive scheme that Labor talked so much about during the election. We have to ask whether this government are being honest with the people of Australia when they talk about their election commitments and whether they're delivering on them, particularly when they come into this place and answer questions asked by the opposition, because the reality for most Australians is that when they visit their GP they are taking the credit card as well as handing over their Medicare card, and they're just hoping that they're going to be bulk-billed for the exercise.

We know that it literally has never been harder or more expensive to see a doctor in Australia than it is right now, and again this flies in the face of everything the Prime Minister said to us during the election campaign. GP bulk-billing is 11 per cent lower right now under Labor than it was when the coalition left government. That is a statistic that many in this place should reflect upon, because we do so often hear this nasty rhetoric from those on the other side that the coalition is not a friend of Medicare, that we don't want Australians to access health services. Of course we want Australians to access health services. That is why GP bulk-billing was higher under us than under this government.

There were 40 million fewer bulk-billed GP visits in the past year alone. This means, as I said, that more Australians, when they go to the doctor, are having to hand over their credit card as well as their Medicare card. We also know that Australians are now paying more out of their own pocket to see a GP than ever before, as the average out-of-pocket cost has reached a historic $48. That doesn't line up with what the Prime Minister told us during the election campaign, and it doesn't line up with what this government told the chamber during question time.

Many Australians who are doing it tough right now, and many Australians who are trying to access health services right now, who lived through an election campaign in March, April and May this year, when almost every day they saw the Prime Minister out there, shaking his Medicare card, expect more from this government, I think. It is now on the Prime Minister to ensure that the promises he made to the Australian people at the election are kept, and we in the coalition will continue to ask questions until we get some more honest answers.