Tony Abbott’s Commission of Audit has clearly ignored Australia’s health experts, and its Budget blueprint will result in a weaker and more expensive health system.
Leader of the Opposition Bill Shorten and Shadow Minister for Health Catherine King met with experts from across the health sector this morning to discuss the effects of the Commission of Audit’s recommendations.
The report is a blueprint for the complete destruction of universal healthcare in Australia and does not reflect the wide ranging positions or submissions from across the health sector.
It is a report based on ideology, not informed policy or the recommendations of experts in health on where efficiencies in the system can be realised.
The Commission of Audit Chairman’s explanation for recommending Australians pay more to see a doctor was:
“I just don’t think we’re that crook’”
[Tony Shepherd, press conference, 1 May 2014]
This is the level of analysis that Tony Abbott is relying on as he gets ready to break his promises on healthcare in this Budget.
This is not a report about improving Australia’s health system. It is a blueprint for the destruction of Medicare and a template for the two tiered, American health system Tony Abbott seeks to impose on Australia.
Labor is joining with Australia’s health experts to stand up for families, the sick and the elderly and against the Prime Minister’s attempt to destroy Medicare.
Labor believes that all Australians should get the healthcare they need, not just the healthcare they can afford. The Abbott Government’s commitment to give wealthy people $75,000 to have a baby, while making healthcare more expensive for ordinary people, shows how twisted their priorities are.
Before the election, the Prime Minister promised to protect Medicare. After the election, he is promising a new GP Tax, a new Hospital Tax, more expensive medicines and restricting access to the best quality care to only those who can afford it.
Tony Abbott is not the Prime Minister he promised he would be.