Senator KNOWLES (3:01 PM) —My question is to the Minister for Health and Ageing, Senator Patterson. Will the minister update the Senate on the recent government announcements to make Medicare fairer by making it more affordable and more accessible? Is the minister aware of any attempts by state premiers to mislead the Australian public with regard to this announcement or any other health issues?

Senator PATTERSON (Minister for Health and Ageing) —I thank you for your question, Senator Knowles, and I appreciate your interest in this issue. When we came into government we had a total maldistribution of general practitioners. There were far too many in the city and too few in rural areas. We are spending $562 million on attracting doctors into rural areas. We have increased the number of doctors in rural areas by 4.7 per cent estimated full-time doctors in the last 12 months. We have now seen the number of young people from rural areas studying medicine in our medical schools go from eight per cent to 25 per cent.

It was indicated to us that we needed to increase the medical work force. I did that. On a request from the state ministers that they needed more doctors in their hospitals immediately, Mr Ruddock and I changed the immigration regulations to allow young doctors who had studied in Australia to stay on. We produced 93 doctors almost overnight. This package—worth $917 million—has about $500 million dedicated to increasing the work force. With regard to the number of doctors on the ground next year, there will be 150 new general practitioners in specialist training, particularly in areas of work force need. Eight hundred practices will benefit from practice nurses to assist doctors, to relieve their load in areas of work force need. Also, there will be 234 new medical students in medical schools around Australia as at the beginning of next year. They will be bonded to areas of work force shortage on the basis of their specialty. If they choose to be a specialist GP or a specialist of some other sort, they will be bonded into an area of work force need. This is a long-term plan to address full access.

With regard to affordability, never in the history of Medicare has there been any incentive for doctors to bulk-bill in areas where there are fewer doctors. There are some people in rural areas who have never seen a bulk-billing doctor. The Labor Party goes on about bulk-billing figures, but they have an unfair distribution in terms of people in rural and outer metropolitan areas who do not get access to a bulk-billing doctor, particularly if they are on a low income, particularly if they are on a health care card. It does the Labor Party no service—and it does the Australian public a disservice—when they use public funds to advertise in open letters to Western Australians. The Western Australian and Victorian senators on the other side ought to hang their heads in shame. The people on this side feel very disturbed about the fact that the Labor governments of Western Australia and Victoria are using taxpayers' money to tell lies about the package.

Mr Crean goes on air and says, `If you earn more than $32,000, you won't get a bulk-billing doctor.' That is wrong, an absolute and outright lie. Mr Bracks, now with four years under his belt, is gonna get bigger than his boots, and he will pay for it in the end. What he has done is go and tell Victorians that this bill means the end of bulk-billing for most families because if your family earns more than $32,000 a year you will not qualify. That is an outright lie.

The PRESIDENT —Senator Patterson, I believe you are accusing a person in another place of lying.

Senator PATTERSON —I am not accusing them; I am telling you it is a lie.

The PRESIDENT —I ask you to withdraw because you did make an imputation about a member of another parliament.

Senator PATTERSON —I withdraw it. This advertisement lies. It was paid for by the Victorian state government—by the Victorian taxpayer. Similarly, there is a lie in an advertisement in the West Australian signed by Geoff Gallop and paid for by the Western Australian government. It says, `At the same time Mr Howard wants to make it more expensive for average familles to see a doctor with those earning more than $32,000.' (Time expired)

Senator KNOWLES —Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Could the minister explain how the Western Australian government wasted that taxpayers' money? Also, has there been any misrepresentation about the health agreements?

Senator PATTERSON (Minister for Health and Ageing) —Former Senator Richardson wrote a book entitled Whatever it takes and the Labor Party are using that same tactic of whatever it takes. Dr Gallop is saying that you will be denied free access under planned changes to Medicare. That is an outright lie in this advertisement. You nearly jumped, didn't you? It is an outright lie in this advertisement. In using public money to lie to the Victorian and Western Australian public, they continue to do the same thing in saying that there will be money taken out of the health care agreements. We are adding $10 billion in the next five years to the health care agreements—a 17 per cent real increase over and above inflation. How can that be a cut to funding? We have increased funding to public hospitals over the last five years while the states have decreased their funding to public hospitals. All we are asking them to do is put on the table what they are going to spend and match our increase. That is all we are asking them to do: to tell us what they are going to spend and match our increase and they will get a 17 per cent increase over and above what we paid last year.

Senator Hill —Mr President, I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.