PRIME MINISTER:
It's a real thrill for me to be here at the Children's Hospital. It's great to be with Professor Kathryn North, the head of the Murdoch Institute with Professor Doug Hilton, who is the head of the Australian Association of Medical Research Institutes. Good to be here with my friend and colleague Peter Dutton.
We are here in the Parkville precinct which is Australia's medical research capital and we don't always appreciate, as Australians, how good we are at medical research. We have had many Nobel Prize winners in this field. There are a host of Australian inventions which are world leading innovations in health and they have all stemmed from research here in this country; whether it's the cochlear implant, whether it's the Gardasil vaccine – medical research is helping to create the treatments and cures of today and tomorrow. Medical research explains why people born today live for 25 years longer on average than people born a century ago.
Medical research is vital for a sustainable health system and over time medical research is vital for a healthier, happier and more prosperous society and indeed for a stronger economy. So, that is why I am so pleased to be a Prime Minister for medical research. I wanted to be a Health Minister for medical research –and I believe I was – and certainly I want to continue that as Prime Minister.
At the heart of the Budget, earlier this year, was the Medical Research Future Fund. Changes that the Government announced yesterday make the realisation of the medical research future fund more sure and I know that is important to the medical research community of Australia.
So, I might just ask Professor North and then Professor Hilton to say a few words about medical research before I talk a little more about some of the changes that were announced yesterday.
PROFESSOR KATHRYN NORTH (MURDOCH CHILDRENS RESEARCH INSTITUTE DIRECTOR):
Thank you Prime Minister. My name is Kathryn North, I am the director of the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute and our research institute is embedded within the Royal Children's Hospital because we really believe that the best way to direct research into improving the health of children is to take the questions that are asked within the clinic by the parents; why is my child sick, what can you do about it? What should I expect for the future? We can actually take that into our research groups and into our laboratories so that we can then provide answers directly back.
I see a future, due to medical research, where we will be taking our health care system from waiting for people to get sick and then reacting to it but really starting to focus on prevention and early intervention. We really want to end up having the best healthy children so that they grow up into healthy adults.
PROFESSOR DOUG HILTON (AUSTRALIAN ASSOCIATION OF MEDICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTES PRESIDENT):
Thanks. My name is Doug Hilton and I'm President of the Australian Association of Medical Research Institutes and Director of the Walter and Eliza Institute which is an institute which is about one hundred metres away from this campus and, I think, really embodies the collaboration that occurs between medical researchers in Australia and certainly in Parkville.
We are really excited about the announcement that was made yesterday by the Prime Minister and Minister Dutton. The Medical Research Future Fund is something that will allow researchers in Australia to be much more internationally competitive, competitive with our colleagues in the US and in Europe. It will allow us to deliver what the community really wants us to deliver; which is better treatments, hope for the future and a system that is sustainable so that people can afford and be able to benefit from the discoveries that we make in the future. So, we can take those 25 years and make them 35 or 40 years in terms of life expectancy.
So, we were pleased that the announcement yesterday was a compromise, that there was a possibility that we could both raise the funds for the future fund but also protect the vulnerable in the community. I think that was really a community concern with the original proposal and we are delighted the Government has listened and we really hope that the crossbench Senators and the Australian community get behind this initiative.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thank you so much, Doug. If I could just say that the announcements yesterday improve the package that was announced at Budget time. That is the whole point of having the kind of community process that is embodied in our parliamentary democracy. You've got a Parliament, you've got a Party Room, you've got a whole lot of members of the public who talk constantly to your MPs – to their MPs. So, the package that we announced yesterday is an improvement on the package that we announced on Budget night and this is Australian democracy at work. This is Australian democracy producing better government all the time.
So, I am really proud of what we did yesterday. What we announced on Budget night was good policy, what we announced yesterday is better policy because we are making Medicare sustainable for the long term. In the process of making Medicare sustainable for the long term we are also investing in the health and medical research that will produce the kind of better health outcomes that every single Australian has a right to expect. You have a right to expect better health in the future. You have a right to expect better treatments, more cures in the future and that is what yesterday's announcement will make more sure and more certain.
So, I am really pleased and I want to thank Peter Dutton, who has been an outstanding Health Minister and certainly has been at the forefront of redesigning the package that we announced on Budget night to make it even better.
So, Peter, you might just like to say a few words.
HEALTH MINSITER:
Well PM, thank you very much.
Firstly, thank you very much to Kathryn North and to Doug Hilton, to all of the team here at the Murdoch Childrens Medical Research Institute – amazing young researchers – medical research is a great employer in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and across the country. Not only do we find cures and the better ways to care for people into the future but it's a big multiplier in our economy. We have discoveries here which result in better medications. Pharmaceuticals that are manufactured in our country are exported to parts of Asia. For every dollar that we invest into medical research we get a $2.17 return. So, it makes a lot of sense to invest into medical research.
I want to say thank you very much to the Prime Minister and to all of my colleagues for the way in which they have moulded the new way in which we have approached the sustainability of Medicare. We do have an ageing of our population, we have all the rare cancers and personalised medicines that will need to be treated in the years to come. This will all cost money and the Government, in what we announced yesterday, will provide for a stronger Medicare for the next generation so that our kids can enjoy the same level of care under Medicare that we have become used to as a country. If we don't make the changes, Medicare is on an unsustainable path. The fact that we are taking care of eight million vulnerable Australians in the announcement yesterday, for those people bulk-billing arrangements won't change, but we do say to people on higher incomes if they are able to make a contribution, we have an optional co-payment arrangement which does help to take care of those who are most vulnerable.
I think they are important changes and I think they will be supported in the Senate but our discussions continue with the independent Senators and I am confident that we can get support because this is the right policy for the future of our country and we have listened to the Australian people, we have made changes which will make Medicare sustainable. I am very proud of the package that we have got now before the Senate.
PRIME MINISTER:
Ok, do we have any questions?
QUESTION:
Prime Minister, Clive Palmer says he will consider your changes but he is unlikely to accept them. Do you have a plan C?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, yesterday he was taking credit for them. So, if he is taking credit for them, presumably, even if he criticises some aspects of them, he won't be voting them down in the Senate.
There is a difference between changes requiring legislation and changes that can be done by regulation and then have to be overturned. I think that is an important distinction.
I just make the fundamental point – why should people like Bill Shorten and myself expect to go to the doctor and not pay a cent? I mean why should we? We earn good money. If people like Bill Shorten and myself go to the doctor, why shouldn't we face a modest $5 co-payment? Now, this will be an option which is available to doctors – it's not mandatory – but it is an option. Co-payments, bulk-billing – these are all at the doctor’s discretion. They have always been at the doctor's discretion, they will continue to be at the doctor's discretion, but I just again make this fundamental point – why should someone like myself or Bill Shorten expect to go to the doctor and not pay a cent?
QUESTION:
Do you accept you’re now being targeted as a Prime Minister who breaks promises and goes back on commitments just like Julia Gillard was? And how are you going to mitigate that at the election?
PRIME MINISTER:
I expect to be subject to criticism – that goes with the territory. Politics is a tough business. But my job is to do what I believe is right by the Australian people. My job is to deliver on my commitments and again I say this has been a year of delivery. The mining tax repeal delivered; the carbon tax repeal delivered; the boats stopped; the Free Trade Agreements that no-one thought we would get are done; the roads building; the Budget under repair despite the sabotage of the Labor Party. Sure, a lot of people like to take a glass half empty approach, but I think Australia's natural instinct is to be optimistic and to give credit for what's been achieved and certainly there has been a lot achieved over the last 12 months.
QUESTION:
How do you expect people to reconcile that a $5 co-payment will save as much as the $7 co-payment?
PRIME MINISTER:
There are a number of changes that we announced yesterday. There is a freeze on the rebate, which is a continuation of the former government's policy. There is a change to the timing of the standard consultation rebate and that’s actually a quality measure which has been widely welcomed by medical groups. So, there are a number of changes and that is why in essence the package announced yesterday will generate the same kind of income for the Medical Research Future Fund as the package announced on Budget night.
QUESTION:
Will the public education campaign advertising these changes be more or less expensive than your campaign for higher education?
PRIME MINISTER:
I don't rule out an information campaign. I think it is important given the misinformation which tends to get into the public arena, that correct information be given to the public. So, I certainly don't rule out an information campaign and let's just see what happens in the future. But on the general subject, I should point out that in the last nine months of the just finished financial year, this Government spent less on advertising than the former government did in its last three months, including in the caretaker period. So, what people will get from us when it comes to information – it will be fair and the spending will be frugal. So, it will be fair, it will be frugal and this is what you should expect from this Government.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister, you’ve said you consulted with doctors but AMA Vice-President Parnis said he was only told of the new GP co-payment model 30 minutes before the announcement. Is that what you consider a consultation or were others consulted?
PRIME MINISTER:
If I may say so, with respect, the AMA is both claiming credit for the changes and suggesting that there hasn't been consultation. Well, you can't have it both ways. Obviously, we have had a lot of discussion with the AMA. I have had some discussions with the AMA. Peter Dutton has had a lot of discussion with the AMA. The package that we announced on Budget night has been well and truly discussed with the AMA on numerous occasions and they have made numerous suggestions. And based in part on those discussions, based in part on discussions with a whole range of people, including my own party room, we have brought forward the new and improved package.
QUESTION:
How many barnacles are left?
PRIME MINISTER:
You know, my job as Prime Minister is to make the Government better today than it was yesterday, better tomorrow than it is today, better next week than it is this week, better next year than it's been this year. So, I am always looking to do better by the people of Australia. That is what you expect. You expect your government to be better tomorrow than it is today and every day I am thinking and working with my colleagues on how we can do better tomorrow.
QUESTION:
If Medicare, Prime Minister, needs to be more sustainable, why don’t you just increase the levy?
PRIME MINISTER:
I think Australians pay quite enough tax already and these are always questions of balance and the commitment that this Government has consistently given, and the fundamental principle that the Liberal and National Parties have consistently supported, is that we want taxes to be lower, simpler, fairer. Unlike the Labor Party our first instinct is not to tax, not to regulate, our first instinct is to try to ensure that we are efficient and we are fair without increasing taxes.
QUESTION:
On another topic, you've called it the “Bob Brown bank” on an international scale. Now the Government’s contributing $200 million to the UN Green Climate Fund. Is this another backflip?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, look, I've made various comments some time ago, but as we have seen things develop over the last few months, I think it's now fair and reasonable for the Government to make a modest, prudent and proportionate commitment to this climate mitigation fund. I think that is something that a sensible government does. As I have always said, we have been doing a lot to combat climate change. We are one of the very few countries that has actually met our Kyoto targets. We are one of the very few countries that will deliver on our 2020 commitments and our 2020 commitments are a 12 per cent reduction on 2005 emissions level.
So, we have a very good story to tell here and part of that is being a good international citizen and so we will be making what I think is a prudent and proportionate contribution to this particular fund and that money will be strictly invested in practical projects in our region, it will be about more efficient energy use, it will be about better infrastructure, it will be about reforestation, direct action schemes to reduce emissions. It will be the kind of things in other countries that we are doing here in Australia to produce a better environment, a stronger economy and a happier society.
QUESTION:
There’s concern that the $20 billion for a Medical Research Future Fund wouldn't be established at that level if the original plan didn’t go ahead. Does this guarantee this new proposal will be the $20 billion?
PRIME MINISTER:
I think it brings us a giant step closer to the realisation of this great dream that medical researchers have had for a long, long time – and that is of a sustainable, flourishing, expanding medical research sector which can continue to deliver for our people, deliver for people everywhere, the treatments and the cures that make our lives better and longer. So, I think it was a very, very happy day for Australia's outstanding medical research community yesterday because it does bring this uplifting dream that much closer.
You see, if you go back to the Budget, yes, it was about living within our means, but it was also about playing to our strengths. And we in Australia like to think of our country’s strengths, we talk about our sporting success, we talk about our environmental majesty, all that sort of thing. We don't always appreciate our intellectual achievements. We don't always appreciate the life of the mind which this country has spawned and medical research is a sign that this is a country which can be top of the world not just in sport but in intellectual pursuits in the life of the mind and that is why I think it was such an exciting and innovative visionary element in the Budget and I'm pleased that it's looking much safer and surer today than it was a week ago.
[ends]