QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Senator McALLISTER (New South Wales—Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme) (14:06): This government has taken a very close interest in the viability of private hospitals, at the same time as we are making significant investments in public health. Those latter investments are not confined to the public hospital system, although those are very substantial.

Our investments extend to Medicare, to cheaper medicines and to investments in workforce, because we want a health system—public and private—that works for all Australians, and we are making very significant investments to ensure that that's the case. It's a very different approach than the approach taken by those opposite when they were last in office. They ripped billions of dollars out of public health.

They ripped billions of dollars out of aged care. The consequence was an aged-care system that was in crisis and bulk-billing that was in freefall. Australians understand that only Labor will ever take the health interests of Australians seriously, and those opposite might do well to reflect on what work needs to be done to restore their credibility for the Australian public.

(Time expired)