Page 1843 - Week 06 - Thursday, 5 June 2014
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
That was Professor Leigh when he was an economist at Harvard, preaching. But now he has got to toe the party line. Now he has been told, “Shut up, mate. You are causing us some embarrassment here. We have got a good political line to run. Shane is going to run it for us in the ACT Assembly. Run it up on the hill. Let us whip up some fear and loathing and hatred. Let us get that going. So you have got to toe the party line, my son.”
So Dr Leigh, who was opposed to the proposal, in recent weeks said:
Since 2003, a lot has changed in the healthcare system, and I’ve changed my view …
Really! That is extraordinary. Other people have said in a discussion paper last year:
As long as it is applied fairly across the community, a co-payment is a perfectly valid policy measure. If Andrew Leigh, before he had to toe the party line, recognised that then I welcome his contribution to the debate.
What has changed his mind? My understanding as well is that Professor Leigh used to support deregulation of universities back when he understood economics, and my understanding is now that he is toeing the Labor Party line his position has changed radically.
So let us look at the evidence. Let us look at what can make Medicare sustainable. It is blowing out by billions of dollars. We have got to make sure that we have a sustainable healthcare system into the future, and economists like Professor Leigh, Dr Andrew Leigh, member for Fraser, ALP member, shadow assistant treasurer, have said this is the way to go and have argued for this.
There are, I accept, concerns with this. I wish this was not so. I really do wish it was not so. I am sure we all do. But we have a choice whether we are going to bury our head in the sand, whether we are going to say that this just something, a problem that will go away, or whether we are going to recognise that we have an unsustainable Medicare system, that we have to do something and that we have to look at the evidence. When we do, the government has come up with something that will result in people on health cards paying no more than $70 maximum.
It is ironic that at the same time members are coming in here to squeal about this, when they are, in this budget, putting your rates up by $150, putting your parking fees up by 30 per cent, putting utility charges up by nine per cent when CPI is only 2.1 per cent, putting up fees and charges that are going to cost hundreds and hundreds of dollars, but meanwhile $7 to try to make Medicare sustainable is, in Mr Rattenbury’s words, a disaster; it is an assault. What I suggest to Mr Rattenbury is that he go and have a chat to Professor Leigh, the assistant shadow treasurer, and ask why Dr Leigh wanted to assault—(Time expired.)
MS BURCH (Brindabella—Minister for Education and Training, Minister for Disability, Children and Young People, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Women, Minister for Multicultural Affairs and Minister for Racing and Gaming) (11.51): I
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video