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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3)
2008-11-13 Daily Xml
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COMMONWEALTH DENTAL PROGRAM

Ms SIMMONS (Morialta) (11:47): I move:

That this house condemns the federal Liberal opposition for failing to support the commonwealth dental program.

I move this motion today because I am appalled and disgusted that the federal Liberal opposition and minor parties in the Senate voted to disallow the commonwealth dental scheme. I see this move as a direct vote against the most vulnerable in our society—the elderly, disabled and indigenous communities and others on health care cards.

Before coming into this place, I sat on two state committees and two national committees looking at the oral health of older people. I am shocked at the number suffering unnecessary pain and deteriorating oral health which affects all aspects of their physical and social life. However, it is not just the quality of their life that is compromised. Recent research shows a direct correlation between poor dental health and gum disease and a range of serious health conditions such as coronary heart disease, stroke, peripheral vascular disease and pancreatic cancer.

These diseases cost this country about $220 million per year to treat; that is substantially higher than the direct annual cost of dental health care itself. We know that preventative oral health would save tens of millions of dollars in other health areas, and I assure you that the federal opposition must also know this fact.

This year, the Rudd government committed to reintroducing the commonwealth dental health program which was dumped by the Howard government in 1996. The Rudd government made it clear that funding for the commonwealth dental health program was dependent on redirecting funding from the former Liberal government's small dental scheme for people with a chronic disease. But the opposition and minor parties in the Senate have conspired to prevent this from happening.

The Howard government program targeted people with chronic conditions and has done very little to help reduce waiting lists for access to public dental care. The scheme was not means tested and relied on the patient being able to pay their dental fees upfront with Medicare repaying a rebate of $4,000 over a two-year period. The majority of poorer people, of course, do not have the capacity to pay expensive private dental fees upfront and were effectively shut out of using that scheme. Instead, middle to high income persons with medical conditions gained easy and immediate access to a comprehensive range of dental services. In addition, the Howard program has not helped a single child under the age of 14 in this state.

Just $2.5 million was spent by the commonwealth on this program in South Australia over the eight months to 31 July this year and only 1,256 South Australians accessed the program. This is about a 2.8 per cent share of the national total compared to 8.7 per cent which South Australia would receive under Labor's commonwealth dental health program. While over 30,000 people remain on South Australian waiting lists for basic dental care such as check-ups, fillings and preventative services, the chronic disease dental scheme has been providing dental services including high and expensive dental care to a small group of about 1,400 South Australians.

In comparison, the new commonwealth dental health program committed $24.7 million for South Australians over the next three years. This funding would have provided for an additional 85,600 dental visits over the next three years. This would have had a major impact on public dental care waiting lists which would have rapidly reduced from 19 months in June 2008 to 11 months by June 2009, and they would have been expected to fall further in the coming years.

The proposed commonwealth dental health program in its first year would also have included 1,900 visits for indigenous people, particularly in our rural and remote areas, 3,100 visits for preschool children in South Australia and 3,000 visits for people with chronic illnesses and, therefore, adequately cater for those targeted under the Howard government scheme. On what grounds therefore would you oppose it? As the program is further expanded, adult concession card holders will be able to enrol for regular check-ups and preventative dental care. As I have explained, preventative oral health care is the key to avoiding several other major diseases.

Let us examine what happens to dental care under Liberal governments. Under the tenure of the Howard government, funding for public dental care in South Australia was slashed by more than $100 million—that is in South Australia alone. That is despite the fact that the commonwealth government has a constitutional responsibility for the dental care of all Australians. Under the former Liberal state government the waiting time for restorative dental care hit a peak of 49 months in 2002. Since that time this state Labor government has provided an additional $56 million for public dental services, resulting in current waiting times being reduced to 18 months.

Also under the Rann Labor government, the number of people on the restorative dentistry waiting list has been reduced from 82,000 in mid-2002 to 32,429 in June 2008. That is a 60 per cent reduction, and represents the lowest number of people waiting for dental care since the loss of the commonwealth dental health program in 1996. So let us make this clear: under the last state Liberal government people were waiting for 49 months—over four years—for restorative dental care, but by the end of this financial year they could be waiting just 11 months if these measures could only pass the Senate.

Opposition in the Senate has centred on how the commonwealth dental health program would integrate into the existing schemes that operate within the states, including how those who are currently receiving care under the Medicare EPC program would be supported. Considerable work has been undertaken by the South Australian Dental Service to evaluate the merits of both schemes, and I must congratulate Dr Martin Dooland and Ms Anne Pak-Poy for their dedication and care for those vulnerable patients in our state. The minister has received unequivocal advice that the commonwealth dental health program would be of greater benefit to South Australians, as it also encompasses those with chronic health needs.

In moving this motion I also condemn the federal opposition and minor parties in the Senate for blocking this measure, and I call on the South Australian Liberal Party to impress upon its federal colleagues the importance of these measures to the people of South Australia.

Debate adjourned on motion of Mr Venning.

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