Claire Chandler (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to 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.

Karen Grogan (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I feel like I'm going around in a washing machine here. There seems to be such a common theme of what the Albanese Labor government are doing to try and overcome the decade—the disastrous decade—of the coalition government.

I love Medicare. My family loves Medicare, from the day-to-day prescriptions, the knocks and bumps, the aches and pains and the advice at the local pharmacy—a big shout-out to John and Nam, who run my local pharmacy and are invaluable to my family—to the more serious cuts and breaks, which our urgent care clinics are now providing an excellent service for. I've had cause to take members of my family to the urgent care clinic for both of those things, and it has been an excellent service that is fully bulk-billed. Then there are the unfortunate circumstances where people need hospital and emergency care, and again I'll tell you my family has had to use those. Nobody wants that, but it is such a relief to know that it's there, that there's someone there for you and that your Medicare card will carry through any of your health needs.

But that's not what we've seen from those opposite at all. Now, they can argue numbers. We can argue about which set of numbers we're looking at and what year they are from and compare which bit to which bit, but—bottom line—let's not forget what they did when they were in government. Let's just own exactly what you did to Medicare and to the health system in this country while you were in government. There was the introduction of, or the attempt to introduce, a GP tax. You froze indexation on Medicare rebates. I've spoken to clinics and hospitals whose doctors have gone on and on about how that just about crippled them over those, I think, seven long years. They have spoken about how crippling that freezing of indexation was to their ability to keep up. That's before we even go to the $50 million cut from public hospitals and the fact that you tried to get people to pay a fee to go to an emergency department. So I'm sorry, but it is the same old story here: almost a decade of you not actually having a care in the world for the average person out there who's trying to just get by, deal with their health conditions and make sure that they can get the care that they need when they need it.

So I think the way you are approaching the situation right now is quite cheeky, whereas we over here on the government benches, having been re-elected in May this year for good reason, have delivered cheaper medicines, saving well over $1 billion in out-of-pocket costs for people. We've frozen the maximum PBS co-payment for every Australian—the largest cut to the price of PBS medicines—and that co-payment is going to change. It's going to go up further. Sorry, it's going to go down further; our rebate is going to go up further. We've taken the co-payment from $42.50 down to $30, and then on 1 January it'll go down to $25. These are things that impact people every single day. These are cost-of-living measures that help people every single day. That's before we even get to the additional 18 million bulk-billed GP visits each year. That's what the policy is. That is what it says. This is what we are doing. This is going to make an enormous difference.

Beyond that, we've had a huge doctor crisis, a huge problem with getting access to doctors, and why is that? Again, significantly, you can look at the almost 10 years of having insufficient training for doctors and an insufficient pipeline of medical professionals coming through, and that can only be sheeted back to those opposite. What we've done is to put thousands more doctors into training programs. This year, we saw the largest ever GP training program, and that's something that we are really proud of, because we're not just here for the sugar hit. We're not just here for today. This is about building the pipeline for the future to address the crisis that was, embarrassingly, left by those opposite. We will support people, and it will be your Medicare card that you will take with you and that you can rely on for the services, supports and health care that you need. (Time expired)

Paul Scarr (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

First, I'd like to make some remarks in relation to the position regarding the copper smelter at Mount Isa and the copper refinery in Townsville. I must say it will be absolutely heartbreaking for those communities if the copper smelter in Mount Isa and the refinery in Townsville close. I say that as someone who, decades ago, spent a lot of time in Mount Isa as a young in-house lawyer at Mount Isa Mines and acted in some really difficult cases involving some workers at Mount Isa. I got to know some of those miners. They were some of the best people I've ever met in my life—down to earth, salt of the earth and really good people. So I really am feeling for the communities in Mount Isa and in Townsville at the moment, and I desperately hope that a way is identified to keep the smelter in Mount Isa and the refinery in Townsville open.

I should say, wearing my hat as shadow spokesperson for multicultural affairs, that Mount Isa is a great example of a successful multicultural community. People may not know that Mount Isa actually has a substantial Finnish community. A lot of Finnish miners came out from Finland when Mount Isa started and were part of opening up Mount Isa. Going back to the early seventies, there were workers in Mount Isa from over 50 different nationalities, who came to Mount Isa seeking a better future for themselves and their families and worked together on the project that we call Australia. It's a great example of a wonderful community, and my heart goes out to that community and to those workers. I desperately hope a pathway is identified to keep the copper smelter open and the refinery in Townsville open. As a Queensland senator, I really do hope that. I'm sure all my colleagues from Queensland and, in fact, from across the country have similar sentiments.

I'd like to make some comments in relation to the answers that were given to Senator Bragg's question about the Housing Australia Future Fund. Senator Wong, as she does so well, managed to avoid answering the direct question that was put to her by my colleague Senator Bragg. It was the obvious question: how many houses have been built by the Housing Australia Future Fund? You couldn't get a more simple question. We've had this $10 billion fund set up that was announced two years ago. The question was, 'How many houses has it built?' and the answer we got was quite clever but avoided answering the question. The answers provided a number of houses that were either constructed or planned—not built; constructed or planned.

I'm sure there was some planning that went into the construction of that answer, but we weren't after how many houses were or are planned. We were actually after how many houses have been constructed. We received an answer in Senate estimates earlier in the year that indicated that, at that point in time, only 17 houses had been constructed two years after the Housing Australia Future Fund had been established—not 1,700 or 17,000 but 17, one-seven, houses constructed by this $10 billion fund. Perhaps more disturbingly, we heard that the fund had acquired 20 times as many houses as it had constructed. Three hundred and forty houses had been acquired.

I don't remember it ever being the intention of the Housing Australia Future Fund to go out into the market and compete with everyday Australians to acquire houses. It was all about building future housing supply. We got no answers from the Labor government with respect to giving us an update on the number of houses constructed. Very disappointing. (Time expired)

Corinne Mulholland (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Imagine my surprise this afternoon to have Senator Canavan come into this place quoting the Australian Workers Union. I know I speak for myself, Senator Chisholm and other members of this chamber when I say this: welcome aboard, Senator Canavan! You are in great company. It is wonderful to have you on board quoting the Australian Workers Union. I look forward to his ongoing advocacy in this place on behalf of the entire workers union movement. Perhaps we might see him step up to the plate and back in working families. When the penalty rates legislation comes into this place, I expect to see Senator Canavan coming over here, joining his comrades, voting with us on the penalty rates legislation. I will eagerly wait to see my comrade Senator Canavan join us on this side when that legislation comes through here.

Let me also touch on the smelters issue raised today. The government is, of course, committed to a sustainable long-term future for our industry, while those opposite have left a graveyard of discarded energy policies in this place, with backbenchers too focused on their own politicking and their own appearances on 'Sky after dark' to hold a consistent position. I will touch on that because we saw some pretty interesting scenes in here yesterday. We saw opposition members almost bowl themselves over running out of this place to get out of this chamber and avoid taking a public position on a net zero target motion. The only person who had a bit of ticker was my comrade Senator Canavan across the chamber, a man who has not met an anti-net-zero motion that he doesn't like. There he was across the chamber, casting a lonely shadow, sitting next to his comrades from One Nation. There were people in this chamber, but they rushed out of here away from a vote. Poof! Vamoose! They were gone.

We saw it again this morning. They ran out of this place to avoid a vote. Their colleague Senator Henderson placed an amendment here today and, all of a sudden, when it came time to vote, they disappeared again. They disappeared again. I know I am new around here—it's my second week on the job—but I thought the point of showing up in this chamber was to vote and do our job, not to avoid a vote and run away from voting. Maybe I'm a bit old-fashioned, or maybe I need to learn a thing or two, but those were quite interesting scenes today, seeing them run away from a vote. They couldn't avoid it if they tried.

We also had our friends from the opposition talking about Medicare. The gall of these guys to come into this place and talk about Medicare—the same people who left it in such a state after 10 years of neglect; they ran it into the ground—and about bulk-billing rates! It had never been harder or more expensive to see a doctor than under the coalition government, and they want to come in here and lecture this government about Medicare. Bulk-billing rates were in freefall. You needed a parachute to catch them; that's how bad they were under the coalition. Unfortunately, they want to come in here and lecture us.

This government isn't about talk; we are about action. We promised 50 urgent care clinics and we delivered 87. We jumped over that target and then some. I've been proud as a new senator for Queensland to get out and visit some of our very well utilised urgent care clinics. I've been to see Dr Evan Jones in Morayfield in the seat of Longman, where thousands of patients were treated last year. It was a very busy urgent care clinic doing amazing things for that community. I've been up in the seat of Groom, visiting the Toowoomba urgent care clinic, which is also seeing thousands of patients. All you need is your Medicare card. You walk in the front door, and they take walk-ins seven days a week for long hours to treat people—young kids, elderly patients and working families.

It's amazing to see the absolute gall of those opposite. Under this government we have seen an $8.5 billion investment in Medicare, the largest single injection in its 40-year history. We've also seen a commitment to take bulk-billing rates so that nine out of 10 visits to the GP will be bulk-billed by 2030, an amazing commitment. The record investment from this government is reducing and reversing the cuts we saw under the Liberal Party. I cannot believe the gall of those opposite.

Alex Antic (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Motions to take note of answers are normally meant to be engaging. I like to think of it like amateur stand-up, frankly. Anyway, I've got five minutes, and I could do a critique of that, but I won't.

Corinne Mulholland (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Bring it on!

Alex Antic (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Well, it wasn't very funny. Anyway, what I am here to talk about though are the questions and the answers given to them. I listened to the debate earlier about a range of issues, including the Housing Australia Future Fund, the $10 billion fund which we know now is yet to build, I think, fewer than 17 houses—or 17 houses; certainly not many. We're not going to house the 1.5 million new people that have entered this country over the last three-and-a-bit years with that kind of number. Fine. But we also heard a little bit about the position on fuel tax credits. We're now seeing the government unable to rule out cuts to diesel fuel rebates, which were relied on by all of the people that drive this country—truckies, farmers, miners—and this is all in the name of emissions.

The pressure on everyday Australians and everyday Australia is absolutely real, and it got me thinking about a scenario. We're always in here talking about—and I note, by the way, that it's alright for female senators and MPs in this place to talk about the manner in which things affect female Australians, but we never hear the flip side, on what's happening to young men in this country. These are the sorts of policy positions which are putting, as I am now witnessing out in community, the most enormous strain on young Australian males that I have ever seen. If anyone's not seeing it, then they're not talking to enough young men out there. Whenever I talk to a young bloke in this country, he tells me that, no matter how much he works, no matter how hard he works and no matter how diligent he is with his savings, he simply can't afford the life that his parents did, the life that his father did, the life that his grandfather did, and the anxiety out there because of the pressure on young men is a real and present problem in this country that is not being addressed properly.

The young men that I speak to talk in this country about the simple things in life, like being too scared to ask a woman out, to ask a girl out, simply for a cup of coffee, because they're not sure they can afford it anymore, thanks to the policy settings we're seeing from the government across the chamber. There are a range of other issues affecting young men today. The Me Too movement has made them almost frightened to approach young women for fear of being called names, I might say. But that's a different issue; we're talking about the economic side of it. The changes to the manner in which we treat young men now, I think, are extraordinary. We hear them talking about their careers and the manner in which they feel that, even if they do a good job in their workplace, they may well get stepped over the top of because of some DEI target. We talk about them listening to commentators and politicians in this place effectively accusing them of being offenders in waiting. We find that we're now living in a world where this situation is causing angst and unrest, it is causing problems at home and it is not being addressed, and it is something that I think is going to ultimately become a serious problem. It has never, ever been more expensive for young people in this country than it is at the moment, and that is placing a huge amount of pressure on the next generation. People are reluctant now—young men are reluctant now—to go about the process of starting a family and owning a home. They feel they can never, ever, ever be in a position where they're going to get onto the front foot.

So we can talk about all of the problems facing the economy, we can talk about the gender pay gap in this place, and we can talk about the 'Gen Z boss and a mini' and all of this sort of stuff that we see floating around out here, but the question that is being left is this: what are we going to do with the generation of young men in this country who feel totally and utterly let down by the system, totally and utterly left behind by an Australia that doesn't want to talk about them in anything other than pejorative terms? For the longest time, I have been talking about this. It is often accused of being toxic in itself. But the reality is that this is a growing issue in this country. It is one that politics is not addressing, and it needs to.

Question agreed to.