QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Senator McALLISTER (New South Wales—Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme) (14:53): We do know the difference that a stronger Medicare makes in people's lives. We hear from parents who can take a sick child to the doctor without worrying about the bill. We hear from Australians who can see a doctor early, before a small health problem becomes something that is much more serious.

That is what bulk billing is all about. But it is worth remembering that those opposite—the Liberals, the Nationals and One Nation—take a very different view. When those opposite were last in government, they wanted Australians to pay a GP co-payment.

They had to walk that back, and you might have thought they'd learnt from that, but the following year the current Leader of the Opposition, Mr Taylor, argued that the coalition's approach in fact should go further. He said it should 'extend across the health system'. That is not a vision for Medicare.

That is not a vision for public health. That is not the Medicare that Australians deserve. Those opposite have never valued Medicare since its inception.

We will, on this side of the chamber, always protect— (Time expired)