The entire justification for the Abbott Government’s assault on Medicare has been blown out of the water by today’s Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) annual report on health funding.
Contrary to the Abbott Government’s repeated claims health spending is unsustainable, the report finds growth in health funding is at the lowest level recorded since it began its reports in the mid-1980s..
Health expenditure Australia 2012–13, shows total spending on health goods and services in Australia was just 1.5% higher than in 2011–12.
The report is proof that Labor’s historic health and hospitals reform agreement with all states and territories, as well as substantial investment in health and medical research, was possible without leading to unsustainable health costs.
Shadow Minister for Health Catherine King says the report ends, once and for all, any justification for the GP Tax.
“The AIHW report shows Labor, in Government, kept health spending under control, without attacking the sick or the poor,” Ms King said.
“Labor showed that a government committed to Medicare can deliver an affordable and sustainable health system without making pensioners and families pay a tax every time they need a doctor.
“Tony Abbott lied to Australians about his plans for a GP Tax, now this report shows he’s lying to them about the need for a GP Tax.
“It’s time Tony Abbott listened to Labor, listened to health experts and listened to his own backbench and scrapped his GP Tax.”