Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

When a party is devoid of a positive policy platform, it reduces itself to scare campaigns—unsubstantiated scare campaigns. That is the hapless state in which the Labor Party finds itself. With nothing to offer, Labor regularly reaches into its bag of deceit and pulls out a new 'Mediscare' campaign. Devoid of facts, devoid of any moral code, Labor seeks to scare our fellow Australians with campaigns suggesting that Medicare under the Liberals, which have a record of economic management allowing Medicare to not only be sustained but see real growth, is somehow under threat. I'm not sure who the brains trust is within Labor, but having failed with it twice, one wonders why they think the Australian people won't see through the dishonesty a third time. Labor operatives are authorising dishonest advertisements depicting the Prime Minister with a pair of scissors, cutting up a Medicare card. Why do Labor need such visuals? If they quoted actual figures, their narrative would disappear without trace.

The latest Liberal budget increases Medicare expenditure yet again year in, year out over the budget cycle. Labor's last budget had Medicare expenditure at $19 billion per year. Today it sits at $30 billion, representing a substantial increase in expenditure since Labor lost the support of the Australian people. Bulk-billing rates today stand at 88.7 per cent. This represents a 6.7 per cent increase from the 82 per cent over which Labor presided. The compare and contrast, the juxtaposition, of Labor's record to Liberal achievements is stark, telling and explodes Labor's myth telling. Labor's continual misrepresentation, distortion and scare tactics are a fact void, while being a treasure trove of rhetoric—albeit empty rhetoric. The Labor brains trust appears to believe mere repetition obviates the need for evidence. Repetition does not obviate the need for evidence. If anything, it demands, requires, indeed, insists on the provision of evidence to support the rhetoric. The people of Australia deserve nothing less.

Recently, our hapless friends in Labor were asserting that we were cutting Medicare rebates for hip arthroscopies. The fact that this procedure hasn't been listed for six years, because there was insufficient clinical evidence to support the public listing of the procedure, is wilfully and deceptively airbrushed over by Labor, hoping people won't be across the detail. We on this side are across the detail, but we're aware that some specialists have been inappropriately claiming other Medicare items for procedures not supported by clinical experts, so we are tightening the guidelines to protect Medicare and preserve Medicare for those in genuine need. So, while Labor supports the defrauders of Medicare, the Liberals support the true friends of Medicare—namely, the Australian people. What Labor won't tell us is that the changes to funding, according to Dr John Hall from the Rural Doctors Association, are 'a game changer for rural communities'. Any change, any reform, any refinement is cynically labelled by Labor as a cut, irrespective that the alterations were suggested by medical experts and will see extra expenditure.

The facts in Tasmania show us that we have a bulk-billing rate under Medicare of over three-quarters of consultations, namely 79.2 per cent. As for co-payments, we have the lowest rate of payment per visit. That's good news in anyone's language, yet Labor continues unabated, unashamed and unrepentant with its tissue of misrepresentations designed to scare the Australian people. To so poorly play on Australians' genuine and understandable concern about the cost of health care identifies the bankruptcy and cynicism of Labor's approach. The Tasmanian people can be assured that, with the sound economic management of the Liberals, Medicare and our health system will continue to be enhanced for their protection and for that of their family.