McCormack, Michael, MP

Mr McCORMACK (Riverina) (12:48): There is nothing worse than a toothache. I am sure the minister at the table, the member for Lindsay, and the member for Wakefield would agree with me. When you have got a toothache it just takes over your whole system: it pains, it aches; it is debilitating. We have just heard the shadow parliamentary secretary for regional health services and Indigenous health give a very impassioned speech about why this disallowance motion is so important. He would know; he is a doctor. He has actually practised at Gundagai in my Riverina electorate. As his portfolio includes Indigenous health, he knows how important oral health is to people of a low socioeconomic status and to people in regional areas. I support this motion for disallowance of the Health Insurance (Dental services) Amendment Determination 2012 (No. 1), made under the Health Insurance Act 1973, which has been brought to this parliament by the shadow minister for health, the member for Dickson. From the speakers list, government members would have noticed the number of members from this side of the House who were keen to speak on the Dental Benefits Amendment Bill 2012. That is because members on this side of the House are very in tune with their electorates and what they are saying, certainly when it comes to the provision of health. The minister for health, and her predecessor, would know that I have been praiseworthy of the government for its investment in health in the Riverina. Indeed, there has been money for the Wagga Wagga Base Hospital: $55.1 million. There has been money for the private-public partnership at Griffith, to the tune of $11.388 million, as well as $6 million to the Hillston multipurpose service redevelopment. They were all good contributions. Mind you, it was money being spent by a federal government after years of inaction by the state Labor government. Whenever anything goes wrong nowadays with the federal government, their default position is to blame the state coalition governments. The immediate option is to press the button to blame, in New South Wales, Barry O'Farrell; in Queensland, Campbell Newman; and in Victoria, Ted Baillieu is getting the blame for anything and everything. Mind you, those three premiers are doing their utmost to repair their states as a result of the huge debt and deficit left to them—the legacy of too many years of Labor governments to remember. With this government, the ripping away of oral health services has been brought about because we have got $246 billion worth of national debt and now we find we have $120 billion of black holes in Labor's spending. Labor is allocating money which it knows it will never have to roll out; hopefully, after the next election, there will be a coalition government in place. Mr Hartsuyker: Hear, hear! Mrs Griggs: Hear, hear! Mr McCORMACK: I hear the member for Cowper and the member for Solomon say, 'Hear, hear!' because they know how important it is for rural and regional areas to get a coalition government in place. As I say, the federal Labor government is promising money almost cruelly, raising the expectations and hopes of people with a disability with the National Disability Insurance Scheme—money that the Productivity Commission says is a minuscule amount considering what is actually needed to properly fund such a scheme. And with the Gonski education overhaul, we see the minister for education promising all sorts of things, but the government is very low on funding delivery. There is nothing worse than a toothache—we all know that; we have all had one. In America at the moment—and this is relevant to this particular disallowance motion before the House, because at the moment we have a presidential election in America—one of the biggest stories going around is about a fellow by the name of Kyle Willis, a 24-year-old father who died from a condition which started as a toothache. I downloaded a story from the web which is very relevant to this motion. It speaks of the fact that Mr Willis is dead because he did not have health insurance; he is dead because he could not afford a simple antibiotic to kill the infection in his mouth. Yet there are still people in America who think the health-care issue is something that President Barack Obama made up to steal money from hardworking Americans' pay cheques. The difference between America and Australia in many ways is that we have safeguards in place. We have safety nets in place. We are so privileged, we are so lucky, to have systems in place to help those who most need it. We now have a very good disallowance motion, which I support, before the House. The bill before the House is going to strip away people's dental health services, and we cannot afford that. Poor Mr Willis was unemployed and he could not afford a visit to the dentist. He could not pay to have a wisdom tooth removed, which in the United States costs $400, based on national averages for extraction costs, because he did not have insurance. He was just another American guy. One in four Americans under the age of 65 do not have dental insurance, and that includes people who have regular health insurance. That bothersome wisdom tooth went beyond dentistry when his lack of money kept him from getting it taken care of. He went to the emergency room but he did not have health insurance. That is an average American story, and we do not want that to be an average Australian story. We do not want to have cruel stories, disastrous stories, of people saying that their friends and relatives suffered so greatly because this mean-spirited government took away money in a vital dental services system. This is not about preserving rorts. This is about oral health in this country, particularly in regional areas such as Cowper, Port Macquarie and New England. I certainly trust that the regional Independents, who say they care about regional people and the constituents they serve, will come in and support us on this disallowance motion, because it is important. The coalition supports investment in dental health. The government has announced the closure of the Medicare Chronic Disease Dental Scheme, effective 30 November, and the replacement schemes are not due to commence until 2014. To anyone out there needing this assistance—and I hope they are listening to the audio from parliament—and to the people in the gallery, I say: 'If you've got a toothache, get it fixed now because after 30 November you will have to pay for it out of your own pocket because of this mean-spirited— Mr Laming: Appalling! Mr McCORMACK: It is appalling—'bill before the House.' We have a disallowance motion, which I support, and I know that Dr Andrew Laming beside me also supports it, as does the member for Cowper, the member for Solomon and the member for Gilmore behind me. They all support it because they know how important it is. The coalition is extremely concerned that many patients receiving treatment under the Medicare Chronic Disease Dental Scheme will be forced to forgo treatment during the gap period. The coalition will announce its dental health priorities prior to the next election, and they will be good policies. They will be policies which will provide a safety net for people most in need of good oral health. On 29 August, the Minister for Health, with the Greens health spokesperson, announced an unfunded $4.1 billion dental program, which is not due to commence until 2014. There we have the rub again: Labor being dragged to the table, kicking and screaming, by the party to which they are beholden, the Greens. The government announced the closure of the Medicare Chronic Disease Dental Scheme, effective 30 November 2012, and no new patients were able to access services after 7 September. This means that the means-tested Family Tax Benefit Part A, or other specified government payment, entitlement for children aged two to 17 years—the young kids who obviously cannot afford it themselves, and many of their families cannot either; kids do not get a say, they just have to put up with a toothache—will not commence until January 2014. That is, 13 months after some children will lose access to the CDDS. The proposal is to provide a $1,000 cap benefit over two years to eligible children. The government claims 3.4 million children will be eligible, but the unfunded cost is $2.7 billion. The proposal for adults will not commence until 1 July 2014—that is, 19 long months after the Medicare scheme closes. You would not want to get a toothache during that time. Funding will be provided to state governments for public dental services. Services will no longer be available for adults through private dentists under Medicare. The unfunded cost is $1.3 billion. That is a disgrace. Labor and the Greens are again co-opting, coercing and coordinating their activities to hurt the Australians who are most vulnerable, particularly in regional areas. As I said, you really would not want to get a toothache in that time. As part of the Labor government's changes to its dental policy, its bill will seek to amend the legislation of the Medicare Teen Dental Plan. It was a plan established by Labor in 2008. The government announced that it plans to change the existing Medicare Teen Dental Plan to the Child Dental Benefits Schedule, commencing a long time away, in January 2014. Under the current legislation, a $163.05 voucher is provided for eligible teenagers to receive an annual preventative dental check. We all know—Dr Laming beside me knows—how important it is to have preventative medicine and how important it is for kids to be able to go and get a check-up to make sure that their teeth and their oral health is good. The proposed legislation will change the age of eligibility to cover children from the age of two years old to less than 18 years old from the current bracket of 12 years old to 18 years old. The coalition supports investment in dental health because we know how important it is. If you have your oral health right, it makes such a difference to your overall health. The government has not released a schedule of services fees and details on how the scheme will be funded and, despite the commencement date being more than 12 months away, is trying to push this through the parliament without these details which would allow the new scheme to be fully scrutinised. Haven't we heard that before? We heard it in the electronic health records debate earlier this year. We heard it on the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. We have heard it in so many other areas. But it is just a cover because this government is in serious financial strife. It is just a cover because this government is in serious leadership strife. Here is a government which is doing everything it can to cut areas which are of vital importance to the nation. It has underfunded our boat people security measures. It has stripped $5.5 billion from our Defence budget. That is a disgrace. It has pushed our Defence spending as a proportion of gross domestic product to—wait for it—1938 levels. Here we have a government which says that it is prioritising Defence and yet we have a Defence budget which is at its lowest level since 1938. And everybody knows what happened in 1939. Back to the dental legislation, the schedule of items to be covered under the cap of $1,000 over two calendar years will be made by future changes to the Dental Benefits Rules, and the government claims 3.4 million children will be eligible under this proposal. That is fine. However, for those kids and adults who are going to have to wait—in the adults' case, 19 months—it is far too long a gap period, particularly if they have a toothache. The Minister for Health has acknowledged that most services for children will cost less than the proposed $1,000 cap. However, there will be children on the Medicare Chronic Disease Dental Scheme who will require more services and there is no provision to ensure they will continue to receive adequate treatment, especially prior to the commencement date. This disallowance motion needs support. It needs the support of the House. It certainly needs the support of the regional Independents, who say they care about regional people and say they stick up for their electorates. Here is the test. Come into this House and support the shadow health minister's disallowance motion because, as I say, oral health is so important to the people of this nation and particularly those in regional areas.