Jordon Steele-John (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

People across the country are struggling to get basic health care. Some are stuck on waiting lists. Others are living in pain, racked with the worry of what happens if things get worse. Right now, people are putting off going to the doctor or to the dentist because they simply cannot afford it. Parents are skipping their own appointments so that their kids can get dental care. Pensioners are living with chronic pain. Young people are ending up in emergency departments with preventable dental infections. And this is happening in one of the wealthiest countries in the world.

Public waiting lists are getting longer while private health care becomes even more expensive. It shouldn't be the size of your bank account that decides what health care you can access. For years, governments have ignored the growing crisis in public health funding. Public hospitals are overcrowded. Mental health care services are pushed beyond breaking point. Finding a bulk-billing GP can feel impossible. Community health organisations are underfunded, and dental care is still excluded from Medicare. Dental care is health care. It is not a luxury, yet this government continues to treat it like one. While ordinary people put off seeing the dentist because of cost, the federal government keeps handing out corporate giveaways and refusing to make the wealthiest one per cent pay their fair share of tax. The priorities are completely wrong. We should be investing in bulk-billing, in public hospitals and in mental health care and we should finally bring dental care into Medicare. No-one should have to choose between paying rent and fixing a tooth.