Transcript: Interview with Chris Kenny, Sky News - 24 February 2025

TRANSCRIPT

Interview with Chris Kenny, Sky News

24 February 2025

Topics: The Coalition’s $9 billion Medicare commitment, Labor’s primary healthcare crisis, GP bulk billing data  

E&OE…………………………………

Chris Kenny: Let's go back to domestic issues now and talk to Anne Ruston, who's the Shadow Health Minister. She joins me live from Canberra. Good to talk to you, Anne. If you were Health Minister tomorrow and you had $8 billion to improve health care across the country, would the Government's bulk billing initiative be the best use of that money?

Anne Ruston: Well, Chris, there is absolutely no doubt that the crisis that is before Australia's health care system is a crisis of primary care. It's a crisis of Medicare, and it's, quite frankly, a crisis where Australians can't afford to see their doctor. Last year, 1.5 million Australians said they didn't go to their GP because they simply couldn't afford it. So there is no doubt at all that the most important investment that any government can make is to make sure that we have affordable and accessible primary health care for all Australians, and bulk billing and Medicare - [Interrupted]

Chris Kenny: Is this plan - Sorry, sorry to interrupt, but is the Government's plan, this $8 billion plan that you've matched, is that the best way to deliver higher rates of bulk billing, because you had much higher rates of bulk billing when the Coalition was last in government without this plan.

Anne Ruston: Well, I think there's a really good point there, Chris. And the fact is that when we first came to government in 2013, bulk billing rates were at 82%. Peter Dutton got them up to 84%. They then continued to rise up to 86% before the pandemic. They went up to 88% during the pandemic. And since this government has been in power, we have seen bulk billing rates plummet to 77%, like 11%, and so what we are seeing is that we are now having to make this extraordinary commitment to investing in primary care just to fix the mess of this government's making over the last three years. And just as another example, the Government is saying, in terms of increasing the number of visits to GPs that are bulk billed, that they will increase by 20 million a year over coming years with this new investment. Last year alone, [there were] 40 million less bulk billed visits than there were in the last year of the Coalition Government. So I think this all clearly points to the fact that the last three years have been a disaster in health care for Australians, and what we need now is to make this big investment so that we can get our healthcare system back on an even keel, and we can get Australians being able to get access to affordable health care, which is something they just don't have at the moment.

Chris Kenny: Isn't this going to just lead to more of these big clinics though, where they just churn through bulk billed patients and people go there for everything that's quick and easy, like a doctor's certificate or a jab. But when they want real consultation and longer visits, they'll go to their own GPs who are then stuck with the longer and and less profitable medicine. And you only exacerbate the problem in the end, because they have to charge for that.

Anne Ruston: Well, I mean, $8.5 billion investment in primary care is a big investment. And, obviously, it is really important that we do have that ground, you know, that grassroots investment in primary care. Because the reality is that if we have a strong primary care system, we will see a healthy Australia. Because right now what we're seeing is people not going to the doctor and they're ending up in the emergency departments of hospitals, and not only is that bad for the patients, they're sicker by the time they're actually receiving care, but it's also really bad because it's a much more expensive place for people to be able to get that sort of care. So, we need to make sure that we've got a blanket, you know, grassroots investment in getting primary care back up to where it needs to be. That's not to say there isn't more work into the future, but right now, the crisis that's before us is Australians simply can't afford to go to the doctor, and that needs to be fixed.

Chris Kenny: Isn't the real issue here, though - One of the other problems, the political issue, if you like, the policy issue - that Labor have been so effective and so deadly in their attacks over Medicare in the past, no matter how deceptive they've been, that you can't afford to differ with them on any of these policies. You can't afford to propose any new reforms because they'll mount a scare campaign, and you have to match anything they promise, because otherwise you'll cop that same scare campaign.

Anne Ruston: Well, what I'd ask Australians to do is to look at the facts. And the facts are absolutely indisputable when it comes to the track record of this government. You know, it's never been harder or more expensive to see a doctor. Out of pocket costs are the highest they've ever been. 1.5 million Australians avoided going to see the GP because they simply couldn't afford to do it. Bulk billing rates have plummeted by 11% in less than three years. I mean, all of these statistics are absolutely irrefutable, but what is really disappointing is I think Australians deserve better than their government lying to them about something as important as health care simply to get themselves re-elected. I think it's disgusting, but we've seen this Medicare campaign rolled out over successive elections, and clearly they're going to roll this one out again because that's all that they've got in their barrel to shoot at this election. But I think Australians are actually much cleverer than that. They've seen this before. They know it's not true. The facts are there for them to see, you know, quite clearly, and they know every time they go to see their doctor, if they can get in, how much it's costing them when they go to pay the bill. So I think, you know, the Government can spin everything they like. They can tell as many lies as they like to cover up their failings in health. But Australians aren't stupid. They feel it every day in their hip pocket because the reality is, health is just another one of the victims of this Government's cost of living crisis.

Chris Kenny: Anne Ruston, thanks so much for joining us.

ENDS