Medicare

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (15:34): Last time I rose to speak on a matter of interest I advised the chamber about the dangerously delusional Dutton's plan for a nuclear industry in every suburb in the country. Lo and behold, some Liberals must have read what I said because I see today in The Guardian, 'Liberal supporters launch an election ad campaign against Peter Dutton's plan to build nuclear power plants'.

I hasten to say their criticism is not the same as mine. They are saying they are trying to save the party from a policy that will gift seats to their opponents—I say hear, hear to that. 'Nuclear technology itself isn't the issue,' they say. 'It's the socialist implementation being proposed that trashes Liberal values.' It is the socialist implementation of Peter Dutton that they are referring to, trying to save the Liberal Party from itself. But today I want to talk about and remind the chamber and Australians why Peter Dutton earnt the title of the worst health minister in 40 years. I am sure everyone in this chamber will remember his record, but I might just go over a few of the highlights for our benefit.

Good policy, as we all know, is not born overnight. It takes a lot of careful consideration, collaboration, consultation with stakeholders, and thorough planning. Unfortunately, this concept seems alien to Peter Dutton and his Liberal colleagues. We saw it firsthand when he unveiled his health policy (so-called) 14 hours after Labor unveiled theirs and said, 'Ditto, we're going to copy their plan.'

Whilst that is flattering, I suppose, in one way, I have to say he did not do a lot of self-diligence in coming up with the Liberal Party health plan. It is flattering that he put all that faith and trust in Labor's hard work but very telling in relation to Mr Dutton's approach to policy development and then announcements. A few scant hours was all it took for him. But there was a very real reason why Peter Dutton was voted the worst health minister in Australia's history by medical professionals. He did not just make a few missteps; he made disastrous decisions that Australians still feel across our health system today.

Peter Dutton made several promises over the years, one of the most notable being his commitment to not touch Medicare. In 2014, during his tenure as health minister, he stood before the Australian people and assured us that he had no intention of tampering with the cornerstone of our health system, stating, 'I am not interested in dismantling Medicare. I want to ensure its sustainability.' But then what did he do? Under Dutton's watch, Medicare did not remain untouched as he promised; it substantially deteriorated.

In 2014, he sought to introduce a $7 co-payment for GP visits, a tax on every Australian patient seeking basic medical care. It was only due to a massive public outcry and the overwhelming opposition from the medical community that this ill-thought-out proposal was shelved, but the damage had been done. The mere attempt to charge Australians for basic healthcare services was an attack on the very foundation of Medicare, and we could see where he was coming from.

To make matters worse, he froze Medicare rebates for six years. Medicare rebates to GP services were frozen for six years. While the cost of living was going up, Medicare rebates were stagnant and GPs were forced to make hard choices. For some, that meant reducing services, cutting staff or, most damaging of all, refusing to bulk-bill their patients. The result was that Australians, particularly those reliant on bulk-billing, were left facing higher out-of-pocket costs and reduced access to health care. This was Peter Dutton's plan of not touching Medicare.

Dutton can say he will not touch Medicare this time around all he likes but his actions in the past show Australians that he does not mean what he says. His record is clear. It shows that under his leadership he has an ideological opposition to Medicare and he wants to destroy it. It is astonishing how much damage he managed to do in his short tenure, just one year in office, in terms of dismantling the health system that Australians are so proud of.

We see the same pattern re-emerging in the lead-up to this election. With his recent proposals to copycat Labor's policy, Dutton is trying to dodge the issue of what he will do when he is in government, if he gets into government, to the Medicare system. We know he does not believe in Medicare, we know he wants to destroy it, and I think all Australians will remember how he behaved last time when he was in charge and not trust a word he says about Medicare. This time around, we will not be fooled again.