Mr BUTLER (Hindmarsh—Minister for Health and Aged Care and Deputy Leader of the House) (14:45): I appreciate the dorothy dixer from the member opposite, a member that I think all members of this House recognise as not the worst health minister in the history of Medicare but perhaps the second worst minister in the history of Medicare. What I said in the lead— The SPEAKER: The Manager of Opposition Business on a point of order? Mr Fletcher: Yes, on standing order 90: inappropriate, disrespectful language. The minister, who is a serial offender, should be counselled. The SPEAKER: I'm always happy to counsel people, Manager of Opposition Business. Thank you for raising that point again about the repeated practice of undignified personal attacks. I'm going to make sure the minister does not use any such language moving forward for the remainder of this answer and any other answers he may have today. Mr BUTLER: The deputy leader asked me about the trajectory of bulk-billing. I was very clear in the lead-in to the last election—and I have been since—that bulk-billing has been falling over the last period of time, and it's no surprise. If you freeze the income of general practice for six years, which is what the Leader of the Opposition kicked off in that budget I referred to and what was continued by the deputy leader when she was the health minister, things will change. I've been honest about this. I've also been more transparent and honest about what is actually happening around bulk-billing than those opposite were. They tried to cloak the bulk-billing figure in the one-off COVID measures that had to be bulk-billed. The SPEAKER: The minister will pause. The Deputy Leader of the Opposition on a point of order? Ms Ley: On relevance, Mr Speaker. How can it be in order, with such a tight question, to talk about the opposition? The SPEAKER: The question was about bulk-billing rates after two years. I guess the minister wants to defend the accusation that they have or haven't dropped and is going to be talking about what he believes the rates were. I'm not exactly aware of what the rates are, so I can't adjudicate— Mr McCormack interjecting— The SPEAKER: I know the member for Riverina is trying to help, but, trust me, he's not. I ask the minister to make sure he's being directly relevant for the remainder of the answer. He won't be able, for the remaining one minutes and 57 seconds, to talk about the opposition. Mr BUTLER: Unfortunately for the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, the world was not created on 21 May 2022. We inherited a Medicare system that had been deeply impacted by a decade of cuts and neglect. I said very openly that bulk-billing was continuing to slide, which is why we put, in the last budget in 2023, a record investment to turn bulk-billing around. I said that would not happen quickly. I was very honest about that. I was also more transparent with the Australian people about what was really happening in bulk-billing by starting to report how many visits to general practice were bulk-billed every single month. Those opposite never reported that. They cloaked and disguised their bulk-billing data in these one-off COVID data—these tens of millions of COVID— The SPEAKER: The Deputy Leader of the Opposition? Ms Ley: There's a minute left to go. I have a point of order under standing order 91(c), which states a member's conduct is disorderly if they wilfully refuse to conform to a standing order. You have brought the minister back to the relevance of the question, and he continues to talk about the opposition. Honourable members interjecting— The SPEAKER: Take a breather. The minister is entitled to do some compare and contrast, but, if he continues with that, I will sit him down. The deputy leader is correct in her point of order, and he needs to be mindful of the standing orders. Mr BUTLER: Well, Mr Speaker, no-one has talked about the sorry state of bulk-billing for the last several years, including since we came to government, more than me, which is why we put a record investment in last year's budget to turn it around. We tripled the bulk-billing incentive, and, since it kicked in on 1 November, it has started to rise in every single state and territory in the Federation, in seven months delivering 1.7 million additional visits. I've never sought to deny that bulk-billing was sliding. I advocated in this parliament, in the community and in the Expenditure Review Committee to deliver the biggest investment in the history of Medicare for bulk-billing. Mr Dutton interjecting— The SPEAKER: Order! The Leader of the Opposition! Mr BUTLER: This guy tries to pull a stunt, when he started it all. Honourable members interjecting— Mr BUTLER: This guy started it all with the worst health budget in the history of the federation. The SPEAKER: Look, whatever just happened there is completely undignified for the House. I'm going to ask all members, for the remainder of question time—it's a plea to everyone—to lift the standards and lift the tone. That's everyone.