CREAN:
I obviously called the press conference to talk about Medicare, but just before I get on to that I just want to say how disgusted I am at the desecration of the war graves in Europe. People do have a right to protest against the war, but this is not the way to do it. It's totally inappropriate; the desecration of sacred soil; people who have fallen, fallen for their countries. It's an outrageous action, and it's to be condemned.
On the question of bulk billing and health care generally, everywhere you look in the country at the moment, John Howard's policies are putting health care out of the reach of Australian families. It isn't just the decline in bulk billing, it's the increase in private health insurance, and it's the increase in the cost of medicines.
Bulk billing under this Government has declined dramatically. It's happened over every year of their term in office and, as you can see from this graph, in the seven years prior to this Government coming to office, bulk billing increased under Labor policies to well over 80%. Every year under the Howard Government, there's been a decline in bulk billing.
If bulk billing goes, Medicare goes. Health care is unaffordable for Australian families. Under them, it's gone from over 80%, which was progressively built by Labor Governments, to under 70%. The picture is even more dramatic in the case of the ACT, where we can see bulk billing now around the 40% mark, and an almost 20% decline in just the last two years. That's a picture that happens all around the country. In so many parts of Australia is this picture happening.
Now, the policies that have been leaked and we'll wait and see what the end result is when the Budget comes down, or perhaps another leak but the policies that have been leaked by the Government show it has got no intention of restoring bulk billing for all Australian families. Essentially, they want to means test it, and that means that families on over $30,000 in income and they're not wealthy families any family over that is going to have to pay more for a visit to the doctor. They're going to find the choice between going to the doctor and other essential expenditures for the family one that they can't readily make don't want to make but they won't be able to afford to go to the doctor.
The direction that the Government is heading in is the wrong direction. If, in fact, there is money to spend, and if the figure of $1 billion for health care expenditure is accurate, don't tell me you can't use that billion dollars to restore bulk billing for all Australian families.
Labor is committed to the restoration of bulk billing to underpin the continued survival of Medicare, to ensure affordability of health care for the Australian public.
The other thing that we will continue to oppose is their intention to persist with the increase in the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, the 30% hike in medicines. That's just not on. We'll continue to oppose it. It's slugging families once again.
This Government has to get serious about health. The health system is in crisis, and Labor is going to do something about it.
JOURNALIST:
Would a Labor Government guarantee 100% access to bulk billing?
CREAN:
Labor will commit to ensuring that doctors are encouraged to bulk bill. As you can see by the policies that we pursued when we were in Government, we took it up significantly. The trend was continuing up. Now, what we have to do is to get back to the circumstances in which the patient rebate is improved.
It can't be done overnight, because it's been eroded over a seven-year period, but we have to start the rebuilding process again. I'm not pretending we're going to restore it overnight, but I am committing to the policy framework in which it is restored over time.
JOURNALIST:
Do you know roughly what you'd do on that front with a billion dollars? You're saying if the Government's got a billion, you could spend it differently?
CREAN:
Well, it's not just that billion, Matt. I think that there has to be a serious look at the overall health expenditure in this country. This nation spends $60 billion annually on health, and the Commonwealth Government contributes something like $30 to $35 billion of it. They're talking about an extra billion. Don't tell me that in the context of that billion and a sensible reassessment of the already existing spend, we can't do something to restore bulk billing.
JOURNALIST:
How would you restore it?
CREAN:
You'd need to look at the overall expenditure. You'd need to commit to a program over a period of time. You'd need to get the doctors and the professions on side. You'd need to recognise what's squeezing them at the moment. But it's a question of better utilising the resources and the availability of expenditure on health, and making sure that what people were promised and that was access to a universal health system is actually delivered.
JOURNALIST:
Wouldn't you have more expenditure to throw at bulk billing if Labor scrapped the 30% private health rebate?
CREAN:
Well, the question of the private health rebate is one of the areas that we have said we are prepared to look at not to abolish it totally, but to look again at the totality of expenditure that's involved in it.
JOURNALIST:
Does that mean paring back the 30% rebate to a lesser amount?
CREAN:
The expenditure at the moment is, it think, $2.3billion. The latest hike that the Government has approved a 7% hike in private health insurance will see another, I think, $170million off the Federal Budget.
We have got the ridiculous situation at the moment where private health expenditures by the Government are uncapped and are out of control, and yet the public dimension of health is capped and being run down. That is the wrong set of priorities. That needs to be reversed.
JOURNALIST:
The number of treatments with GPs being covered by bulk billing was just over 80% when Labor was last in Government. Is that the sort of level you would like to see it get back up to?
CREAN:
Well, clearly we were able to get there, Dennis, with decent policy: a decent commitment and honouring our side of the bargain honouring it in terms of patients, honouring it in terms of doctors. What we're seeing is it being dishonoured by this Government in relation to both doctors and patients.
We have to get serious about fixing this problem. The health system is in crisis. The hospitals are being squeezed, because when bulk billing runs down and Jon [Stanhope] will be able to tell you this the emergency wards of the hospital get the overflow of people who can't find a doctor that bulk bills.
Now, that's a cost-shifting exercise, and this is an issue that not only the Commonwealth has to look to in terms of its own expenditures, but its relationship with the States and the way in which the hospital system is also funded.
JOURNALIST:
So do you think that targets should be set as to how much bulk billing there should be?
CREAN:
I said before that the policies that were pursued by previous Governments saw the steady and significant increasing in bulk billing options. The encouragement was there, and the profession responded accordingly. We have to get back to a sensible approach to this. It worked in the past. It's got to work in the future, because it's sure not working now.
JOURNALIST:
Wouldn't it make life easier for people to be able to swipe their Medicare card and not have to shell out cash?
CREAN:
Yes, but no one's arguing about swiping the Medicare card, but under the arrangement that's being talked about, it's carte blanche for doctors to charge on top whatever they want. It's going to cause inflationary pressures and increase costs to patients.
So using the technology, we don't argue against. Finding smarter ways to bill, they should be looked at, but look at what else is in this package. It's means testing, and it's carte blanche to a co-payment in terms of whatever the doctor chooses to charge. So it's going to be the additional squeeze on families.
The other problem that you might find with the swiping is that you'll see further closures of Medicare offices, and that's something that the public has not been happy with from this Government in the past.
JOURNALIST:
You've been keeping your head down in the last week. Is that because of the war, or the Newspoll, or both?
CREAN:
I've been keeping my head well and truly up. I've been very actively involved. I've been at football breakfasts. I've been at schools. I've been all around the place and been getting on with some good policy initiatives. The Shadow Ministry, full Shadow Ministry, last Friday determined the priorities that Labor will pursue on the domestic agenda, and we will continue to put those in place and announce them when the fog of war clears to give us the opportunity.
JOURNALIST:
With regards to Iraq, the coalition forces are now closing in on Baghdad. At which point should the Australian forces be withdrawn when Baghdad falls, Saddam's routed, WMDs are destroyed? When do you think that they should be brought home?
CREAN:
Well, they shouldn't be there, that's the starting point. And if Labor was in office, they wouldn't be there. This war is wrong, and we shouldn't be part of it. And if I was Prime Minister today, I would bring them home.
JOURNALIST:
Now, today?
CREAN:
But the reality is, the reality is I'm not the Prime Minister, and the current Prime Minister has committed them. In those circumstances, what we have to hope for is the speedy conclusion to this war, because that's the most effective means by which they will be returned home quickly and safely.
JOURNALIST:
What do you think should be the exit point?
CREAN:
The exit point is in the hands of the allied advance now I don't know. There are too many confusing stories about how long that's going to take, but what I do know is the story we were told about it all being over quickly is not happening. Again, the Australian public has been misled in relation to the amount of time it would take to disarm Saddam Hussein.
JOURNALIST:
Yes, but it's two weeks and they're just about into Baghdad. Isn't your concern that this is all taking too long and looking a bit thin?
CREAN:
Well, listen, in the first 24 hours we were told Basra had been captured. Well, I was still hearing reports yesterday about them still circling Basra. Let's wait and see what these latest reports actually translate to. Quite frankly, there has been a lot of confusion surrounding the extent of advance and progress. I'm not expert in that; I have to go in the same way as you on the information that comes out publicly. But I will be having a briefing this afternoon; that may shed some further light on it.
JOURNALIST:
It's a Defence briefing?
CREAN:
Yes.
JOURNALIST:
What did the Government say specifically? Can you think of anything that they've actually said that made you think that this would be over within two weeks?
CREAN:
The Government had led the Australian people to believe that once the troops were committed, this would be a war that would be over quickly. That's not happening. But the Government
JOURNALIST:
This would be the shortest war in history, [inaudible]
CREAN:
The Government also said, though, that the basis upon which we were going in was to disarm Saddam Hussein of weapons of mass destruction. Now they've embraced regime change. They never told the Australian public that before. And, so far as the information available is concerned, there have been no findings in relation to weapons of mass destruction. In any event, the disarming of weapons of mass destruction was proceeding, and significant progress was being made by the United Nations; it should have been allowed to finish its task. That's why this war shouldn't be happening. It should have been disarmament through the United Nations.
JOURNALIST:
When you look at those declining red bars on your bulk billing graph, they resemble a little bit, the declining red bars in your polling, don't they?
CREAN:
No, no, they're declining blue bars. These are declining Tories. These are declining Tories and the consequence of Tory policies. And these are the issues, quite frankly, that matter most to the Australian public not the question of leadership in the Labor Party; that's not what people are asking out there in the streets. But I'll tell you what they are asking they're saying, What's happening to my bulk billing options? Why can't I get a doctor that bulk bills? Why did this Government promise to keep bulk billing and Medicare, and it's ratted on that promise?' That's the questions that I'm being asked out in the public, and they're the issues that I want to address.
JOURNALIST:
Why hasn't opposition to the war translated into support for the Labor Party?
CREAN:
That is going to be a question, over time, as to whether the issue of war is the matter that switches votes in the Australian public's mind. If the war is still going, it may well be an issue at the time of the election. But I tell you this - the issues that will matter at the time of the election, the issues that will determine people's vote-switching, are going to be issues of education, they're going to be issues of health, they're going to be issues of the environment, they're going to be issues of living standards
JOURNALIST:
[inaudible]
CREAN:
Well, because they were swamped by Tampa. Those issues, though, underneath the surface, were the ones that families were most concerned about and they still are, because this Government has hidden from these issues in the last election through Tampa and September the 11th, and in the current term of its office through the fog of this Iraq war.
The Australian public I have great faith in. They will see through this Government's determination to ignore the things that matter to them, to concentrate only on international issues. Their concern is with the domestic issues, and that's where my concern is, and that's where I will focus.
JOURNALIST:
What do you say directly to your backbenchers who are worried that, looking at your performance and the performance of the Party, they could lose their seats in the next election?
CREAN:
I say to them that, not only will we hold seats, but we will win them if we can focus the public's minds on these domestic issues and show that we have a plan to fix them. And what you'll be seeing from the Labor Party in coming months is our strategy in terms of addressing the decline in bulk billing, our strategy in terms of education, our strategy in terms of the environment, and our strategy for families. I might say, I noticed today that there is a story in one of the papers that says that in the Budget they're going to scrap again, shelve again, the policy for families.
How is it that a Government that is the highest taxing Government in the nation's history can't afford to do something in this Budget for bulk billing or for families? They're a Government that yesterday had the opportunity to scrap a tax that is no longer necessary and has yielded, from all accounts, more money than was necessary, but they haven't scrapped it; a Government that's already the highest taxing in history and it's keeping another tax on. Why? Because it can't afford to pay for the war. It hasn't told us how much this war will cost and, basically, it's a Government that's ignoring the needs of Australian families because it's committed to a war we didn't have to be in.
They're the issues, ultimately, that are going to count. They're the issues that are going to matter to Australian families, and it's the task of my colleagues to make sure that the public is aware of them.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Crean, do you think Australians should attend ANZAC Day celebrations at ANZAC Cove, given there's been travel warnings not to go?
CREAN:
Yes they should, they should. And I think it would be a great tragedy if the huge momentum that has been building over recent years for Australians to visit ANZAC Cove, pay homage to a previous generation of brave defence forces that fought on behalf of this country; it's essential that they do go.
But the travel warnings are just another example of the heightened threat from terrorism associated with Australia's involvement in this unnecessary war. It's a fact that the Government tries to deny when we ask them in the Parliament, and yet you see so many examples as to where they're acting the barriers around Parliament House, the increased security for VIPs and the Prime Minister, the increased security around Defence establishments and now, it would appear, increased security around ANZAC Cove.
Why doesn't the Government just come clean? It's committed us to a war we didn't have to be in and we pay a higher price in making ourselves more of a terrorist target.
JOURNALIST:
Are you worried about your 17% approval rating, Mr Crean?
CREAN:
I'm worried about the significant decline in bulk billing in this country down to under 70%; a decline that came from over 80% and is happening because of this Government's policies. We have to redress that, and we will.
JOURNALIST:
How concerned are you that the United Nations may not have a role in rebuilding a post-war Iraq?
CREAN:
It has to have a role. And what I'm pleased to see is statements from the Foreign Minister in his visit there at the moment to that effect. The reconstruction of Iraq can't happen, and won't happen effectively, under a US protectorate.
The United Nations has to be involved, and Australia must argue more strongly for that. I welcome the Foreign Minister's indication that that may be the direction we're heading, but, quite frankly, he and the Prime Minister must insist upon it. They've dealt themselves into the Coalition of the Willing; let's make sure that their participation in that Coalition actually has some clout.
I'm sick to death of this Government simply following whatever the US determines. It's about time Australia stood up and did the right thing in its national interests and in the interests of the reconstruction of Iraq after the war.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Downer was on Lateline last night. He said that, while Australia supported the UN having a humanitarian role, it didn't want to see the UN having any leadership role. He thought that any transition should be from a US leadership to an Iraqi, new Iraqi civilian leadership.
CREAN:
Well, I didn't see that interview last night, and I saw reported comments this morning where I thought he was talking about a leadership role.
It must be a leadership role, and we won't support a US leadership role. And when you think of it it's crazy. I mean, what sort of position do you put yourself in where you've been the invaders and the conquerors, and then you're supposed to be the peacekeepers as well? It does not make sense. And it exposes, again unnecessarily, those that have to do the task to targeted risk.
And in those circumstances I think the Australian Government would be very worried about the implications in terms of any Australian role. But, under the banner of the United Nations where all countries are participating and the UN is taking the lead, the UN is ensuring that the revenue from the oil actually goes to the people. If that's what the assertion is that this Government wants to support, it must happen under the UN banner. The UN should have been the basis for disarmament should have been, regrettably it's not. It must be the basis for the reconstruction; it must involve a leadership role by the UN.
JOURNALIST:
Should post-war Iraq and its reconstruction be backed and endorsed by new Security Council resolutions, as happened in '91?
CREAN:
Well, it's a matter for the Security Council itself, but I would assume that their decision in relation to it would have to be informed on all of the circumstances. But, I think that the UN should be preparing for it; it's got to be called in to do it.
I know the British Prime Minister wants that. I would urge the Australian Prime Minister to lend strength to Tony Blair's hand as one of the three countries that are providing the troops in the Coalition of the Willing. Our participation's got to count for something. Given that we shouldn't be there, and we are, let's actually make our involvement count for something in terms of the reconstruction of Iraq.
JOURNALIST:
In terms of medical indemnity insurance, there's an AMA rally planned in NSW this weekend. Are you concerned that there's going to be some more strike action as we saw last year and people, and doctors moving away from the profession in regards to this?
CREAN:
Well, I'm concerned that, of course, that doctors are moving away from the profession. But, most of all, what concerns me is doctors moving away from bulk billing, because the system that this Government is overseeing is not supportive of a bulk billing regime.
I want to see the AMA get behind decent health policy and the restoration of a universal health care system in this country that's affordable, affordable for all families.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Abbott said yesterday that unless the States toe the line on industrial relations legislation and the Cole Commission he would withhold up to $4 billion in public works funding. What does Labor say to that?
CREAN:
Well, I think that is an outrageous call by Tony Abbott. He's blackmailing the States. He's putting the Commonwealth Games at risk through his fetish to get at unions.
Now, let's have an objective look at what the Royal Commission found. It did find bad practices, and those practices do have to be stamped out. But they're not just practices on behalf of the unions they're tax avoidance on the part of the companies.
Why don't they turn their attention to actually saving revenue for the Government by cracking down on the tax avoiders? That's where his efforts should be directed. But to actually be threatening public works all around the country, $4 billion dollars of it put at risk not just the Commonwealth Games but new hospitals this is madness.
And, you know, we don't deserve politicians driven by obsessiveness in terms of their own personal agendas. We expect them to act for the whole of the nation and do good works for the whole of the nation.
