TRANSCRIPT
ABC RADIO NATIONAL BREAKFAST
29 July 2025
Topics: Anthony Albanese’s Medicare lies, Labor’s failures on bulk billing, home care wait list, net zero by 2050
E&OE…………………………………
Sally Sara: Shadow Minister for Health and Aged Care and Senator for South Australia, Anne Ruston joins me now. Anne Ruston, welcome back to Breakfast.
Anne Ruston: Thanks, Sally.
Sally Sara: During the election campaign, the Opposition largely mirrored the Government's health policies, including matching the bulk billing incentive dollar for dollar. Why are you now calling Anthony Albanese a snake-oil salesman as he moves to implement that?
Anne Ruston: Well, I think I've been very clear right the way through the election campaign that the Prime Minister waving around his Medicare card and telling Australians and I quote, "all you'll need is your Medicare card, not your credit card," was actually misleading the Australian public about the reality that is currently our health care system at the moment. Your listeners know that when they go to see the doctor, they are paying out of pocket costs, and some of them are as high as they have ever been and higher. So, I think I've been very consistent in calling out the Prime Minister for misleading Australians about the reality that is our primary healthcare system at the moment. But let's be clear, I think everybody wants Australians to get affordable and timely access to healthcare, and particularly access to their doctor. Because, quite frankly, if they don't, we're seeing people getting much sicker before they seek medical help, and they're ending up on our ramps at our hospitals or in our emergency departments, which is where they shouldn't be. They should be getting access to their doctor.
Sally Sara: Last week, you accused the Government of failing Australians on Medicare by every measure. What do you propose the Government should do differently?
Anne Ruston: Well, first of all, I think it would be really good for the Government to be honest with Australians about the crisis that's facing our healthcare system at the moment. And when you talk about every measure, I'm talking about the fact that bulk billing rates have plummeted by 11 per cent, that 1.5 million Australians last year chose not to see their doctor because they said they simply couldn't afford to, the fact that there were 40 million less bulk billed visits, and we're seeing a crisis at our hospital system as a result. We need to be honest about the things that are actually happening. If you listen to Mark Butler and you listen to the Prime Minister, you would think that they're in the process of solving all of the challenges that are facing Australia. And this is another cost-of-living challenge that Australians are facing at the moment - decisions about whether you go to see the doctor, you fill your script or whether you put food on the table. These are decisions no Australian family should have to make. But I think if we were able to get the Government to be a little more honest about the challenges, and not running around telling everybody that all you need is your Medicare card when the Prime Minister knows, darn well, that's not the case, then maybe we can actually sit down and work towards making sure that we're supporting a primary care system that supports Australians and their healthcare needs.
Sally Sara: Senator, yesterday, the Coalition, the Greens backed Independent Senator David Pocock's motion to launch a Senate inquiry into the Government's decision to delay the release of further home care packages. What do you think the inquiry will achieve?
Anne Ruston: Well, one of the things that is really very distressing, and it continues to cause great concern, not just to the Opposition, but to the many older Australians who are needing this care, is that the Government made a promise in the election campaign that they were going to release 80,000 new home care packages on the 1st of July. Then, only minutes into their next term, they actually took those 80,00 packages off the table, and we now believe that they may be released sometime at the end of the year. Right now, 87,000 older Australians have been assessed as needing home care packages and they are not receiving them. So, they are not receiving the care they have been assessed as needing. And so, I think David Pocock, and we absolutely support David's motion - We think that this is an opportunity for us to get to the bottom of why the Government is withholding care that they promised Australians. Is it a fiscal issue? Is it an issue with their administration and their capacity to actually deliver? We really do need to know why older Australians, quite frankly, are dying waiting for the care they've been assessed as needing.
Sally Sara: Just finally, on the issue of net zero, it's continuing to cause friction with Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce introducing a private members' bill to scrap Australia's net zero target by 2050, that target. Opposition leader Sussan Ley continues to hold off on making a call on the future of the policy. Why did you abstain from voting on Pauline Hanson's motion on scrapping net zero in the Senate yesterday?
Anne Ruston: Well, I was actually on leave yesterday afternoon because I was in Shadow Cabinet. But I think the main issue here is that we have made a very strong commitment to our party and our party room that we would go through a really robust process around what our energy policy is going to be going forward, underpinned by making sure we've got a stable and reliable energy grid and that we play our part in reducing emissions in a responsible and transparent way. And I think we all respect the fact that there is a broad range of views in our party room on this particular issue, but the one thing that I will always do is respect all of those views. I want to hear all of the views of my colleagues, and then we'll go through a respectful process and come up with a united policy at the end of it. And I don't think that - You know, it's a quite reasonable thing for us to be allowed to do that.
Sally Sara: Senator Ruston, thank you again for your time on Radio National Breakfast.
ENDS
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