Month: March 2019

The Morrison Government is investing almost half a billion dollars to deliver world-leading cancer treatment for Australian patients, extra hospital infrastructure, more mental health services and new medical research projects.
The $496 million investment backs Victoria’s position as a global leader in health and medical research and provides new support for patients while creating Australian jobs.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said $80 million would help create a new national cancer treatment centre at Peter Mac, providing access to treatments previously only offered overseas.
“This investment will be life-changing for so many of our sickest Australians, including many children battling cancer,” the Prime Minister said.
“Our strong economic management means we can provide world-leading treatment options for patients in Melbourne, who have previously needed to travel to the United States to get support.
“Today’s Health and Medical Research Plan cements Melbourne’s place as a global leader in health and medical research, creating jobs while importantly providing support for Australian patients.”
Peter Mac will also be investing $25 million to create the Centre of Excellence in Cellular Immunotherapy.
This new national centre will provide CAR T-cell therapy, helping the body’s own immune system to fight cancer and has the potential to cure certain types of cancer.
CAR T-cell therapy involves removing a patient’s T-cells (a type of immune system cell), re-engineering them in a lab and reinserting them back into the body to attack and kill the cancer cells.
Minister for Health Greg Hunt said the Victorian Health and Medical Research Plan would support our doctors, nurses and brightest researchers to treat patients and help find new breakthrough cures for cancer through CAR T-cell therapy.
“The Victorian package puts Melbourne at the global forefront of cancer research and gives our patients the best chance of treating and beating cancer.
“This plan builds on the more than 55 per cent increase in Commonwealth funding to Victorian hospitals, record bulk billing and more than 2,000 new medicines subsided under the PBS,” Minister Hunt said.
$30 million will be invested in St Vincent Hospital’s Aikenhead Centre for Medical Discovery – Australia’s first hospital-based biomedical engineering research and training hub.
This will create a new research facility, which will support more research projects, which are already improving and saving lives.
$16 million will be invested to support the mental health of young people by developing eight new headspace services in Victoria, in addition to the previously announced Wangaratta service.
Australians with cancer and rare diseases will have access to clinical trials no matter where they live, including regional and remote Victoria, with a $25 million investment in the Australian Clinical Trials Network’s TrialHub.
Hospitals in Rosebud, Casey and Bendigo in Victoria will be the first hospitals to partner with the TrialHub.
$25 million will help establish a new national Drug Discovery Centre that aims to turn scientific discoveries into new medicines faster.
The Centre, at Melbourne’s Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, will help bring lifesaving medicines to patients with the help of advanced robotic gear.
$40 million will fund new paediatric emergency departments inside the existing emergency departments of Geelong, Maroondah, Frankston and Casey hospitals.
This project will develop emergency department facilities that are appropriate for families and children, leading to better clinical outcomes.
$32 million will be invested in a new medical Health Futures to be lead by Peninsula Health and Monash University. The Frankston-based Hub will focus on community health issues including aged care, addiction and mental health.
This will mean that the Mornington Peninsula and Frankston communities will see the direct benefit from research that is undertaken in their community.
Ten new MRI licences will be available across Victoria, which will allow patients to receive life-saving Medicare subsidised scans.
MRI machines with Medicare eligibility will be available at sites including Epping, Heidelberg, Lilydale, Keilor East, Parkville, Moorabbin, Berwick, Olympic Park, Geelong and Brighton.
An MRI is a commonly used medical scan used by doctors to diagnose and monitor a number of different medical conditions including cancer and trauma or sporting injuries.
The investment in the Peter Mac Centre of Excellence in Cellular Immunotherapy will see:

• Establishment of capacity and capability to provide more than 200 patients accessing lifesaving treatments for leukaemia and lymphoma cancers or accessing life-changing clinical trials using CAR T-cell therapy and other immunotherapies.
• Over 140 new manufacturing jobs created.
• 15 new clinical and pre-clinical research jobs will be immediately created.
• 1,700 square meters of space will be fitted out with Good Manufacturing Grade clean rooms for cellular immunotherapy manufacturing.
• 900 square meters of space will be fitted out to create a 14 bed/chair clinical unit.

Labor is clearly a medi-fraud with their latest claims today.
Labor started the freeze and we ended it. Labor stopped listing medicines whereas we have guaranteed the listing of medicines.
Embarrassingly for Mr Shorten we ended the Medicare freeze which Labor introduced. Labor introduced the Medicare indexation freeze in 2013; the Liberal National Government ended it in the 2017 Budget.
This indexation of the Medicare Benefits Schedule, which the Government reintroduced in the 2017-18 Budget, is delivering an additional $1.7 billion (including 90% of diagnostic imaging items) for Medicare services through to 2021-22.
Labor entirely refused to index a single diagnostic imaging item. By contrast we are the first Government to have indexed imaging including x-rays ultrasounds, CT Scans and mammography among other items.
Medicare funding is up from $19 billion per year under Labor to $25 billion in 18-19, $26 billion in 19-20, $27 billion in 2020-21 and $29 billion in 2021-22 under the Coalition Government.
Our stronger economy has enabled the Coalition Government to deliver record federal funding for public hospital services, increasing from $13.3 billion in 2012-13 when Labor left office to a record $21.1 billion this year (a 54 percent increase).
Under a new national hospitals agreement, the Government has committed an extra $30 billion in public hospital funding from 2020-21 to 2024-25, taking overall funding during this period to $130 billion.
Bulk billing is up nearly 4% from 82.2% under Labor to a record 86.1% under the Coalition Government. This means more patients are visiting their local GP without having to pay an out of pocket cost.
The simple fact is Labor and Shorten cannot be trusted. They can’t manage the economy and they can’t manage health.
Three questions for Mr Shorten:

• Why did Mr Shorten stop listing medicines in his 2011 Budget as Assistant Treasurer and will he now apologise?
• Why did he not index one single X-ray, ultrasound or diagnostic imaging item in Labor’s six years in Government?
• Why is he ripping the Private Health Insurance Rebate away from 65,000 mostly regional and older Australians?

These questions must be answered.

Greens Defence spokesperson, Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, commented on the release of the Auditor-General’s report into Defence’s Management of its Projects of Concern.
“The Auditor-General’s finding that Defence no longer has an appropriate framework to manage projects of concern comes as no surprise.
“Defence is basically given a blank cheque.
“For example, the White Paper lists the cost of 12 new submarines at simply “>$50bn”.
“With this sort of indifference to cost it is no surprise that Defence is not properly managing projects of concern.
“Both the major parties are responsible with their joint support for the arbitrary target of Defence spending equalling 2% of GDP, absent of any escalation in the overall threat to the nation.
“This is pouring public money into the pockets of weapon manufacturers and entering us into a regional arms race.
“Neither of these things are making us safer.”

Greens Co-Deputy Leader and industrial relations spokesperson, Adam Bandt MP, today welcomed Labor’s move towards the Greens’ position on the minimum wage, but said his party would amend Labor’s laws in the Senate to ensure a ‘hard floor’ under the minimum wage of 60% of the adult median wage.
“It’s good that Labor is moving towards the Greens’ position on the minimum wage, but there are some problems with the ALP’s approach,” said Mr Bandt.
“If we can turf the conservatives out we’ll work with Labor to lift the minimum wage, but we’ll amend the law in the Senate to ensure a ‘hard floor’ of 60% of the adult median wage, a recognised poverty level.
“When 1 in 4 people in poverty is working full-time, our labour laws are broken.
“The penalty rates decision from the Fair Work Commission shows that guidelines aren’t enough. Without a ‘hard floor’ in legislation, wages can still go backwards.
“The Liberals have threatened the Fair Work Commission’s independence by stacking it with their mates, which is all the more reason for a hard minimum wage floor in the new industrial relations laws.”

Greens climate change and energy spokesperson Adam Bandt MP today reacted to the Coalition’s so-called ‘shortlist’ of underwriting projects that include coal, re-iterating his intention to stop the Commonwealth from using taxpayer dollars on coal-fired power.
“Any ‘shortlist’ that includes coal is a shortcut to worse droughts and more bushfires,” said Mr Bandt.
“Spending taxpayer money on coal is like giving money from the health budget to a tobacco company.
“The government shouldn’t be upgrading coal, it should be shutting it down.
“The Greens have legislation before Parliament that would stop this misuse of public money, as well as an amendment to the so-called ‘big stick’ legislation. It’s clear that Parliament needs to save the government from their own madness on climate change.
“When Parliament resumes, we’ll seek to stop the government pouring precious taxpayer dollars into coal when it should be going into schools and hospitals.”

Barnaby Joyce should be blaming his party’s consistent backing of corporate cotton for his electoral woes, not water flowing into South Australia, the Greens say.
“Barnaby Joyce and the Nationals will defend their corporate cotton grower mates to the bitter end. They only have themselves to blame for their NSW election blowout, as much as they want to pin it on South Australia,” Greens water and environment spokesperson Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.
“This isn’t the first time Barnaby Joyce has tried to blame South Australia for the state of the river. The fact is if he wasn’t doing favours for corporate cotton, the Nationals wouldn’t be bleeding votes in river seats.
“A healthy river must be the priority. When the river is healthy, our river communities have clean drinking water, we don’t have mass fish deaths, and there is water for our nation’s food bowl.
“This latest attack from Barnaby Joyce is simply malicious from a member of a party that has continuously done the wrong thing by their constituents, our nation’s most important river system and the people who rely on it. If we are serious about restoring the river and cleaning up the corruption and rorting the Nationals turn a blind eye to, we need a Royal Commission.
“South Australia is at the bottom end of the river, we bear the brunt of bad decisions upstream and we’re not going to cop attacks from a man who boasted about taking water from the environment to hand to big corporate irrigators. The Nationals should be stripped of any responsibility over water policy before it is too late for our river.”

The Australian Greens media reform package turns the blow torch on the big corporate media giants and places quality, public interest journalism front and centre. With an inquiry to break up media concentration, a review of the social media giants and a series of tax changes and transparency measures we’ll be making sure the public interest is prioritised ahead of profits.
“Australians from all walks of life are concerned about the role the news and social media are playing in people’s lives. In an era of ‘fake news’, tragedies like we saw in Christchurch, and countless examples like the treatment of Tayla Harris, it’s easy to see why,” Greens media spokesperson, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said.
“We know we need media policy that keeps pace with the times, and reflects the public interest if we want to keep this pillar of our democracy strong.
“We have one of the most concentrated media markets in the democratic world. Whether it’s traditional media or new social media, for too long the rules have put profits ahead of the public interest.
“These policies will reorient our priorities to allow public interest journalism and the public good to be put ahead of the profits of news media organisations and digital advertisers.
“We are going to shine a light on the concentration of our news media with a Productivity Commission Inquiry. And we’ll turn the microscope on the digital giants as well with a full review of social media.
“Our transparency measures will shine a light on the dodgy digital advertising practices that are taking dollars for journalism away from publishers.
“We can strengthen our democracy by halting the slide toward more and more concentrated news ownership and put public interest front and centre.”

Australian Greens Gun Control Spokesperson, Senator Mehreen Faruqi, has commented on reports that Pauline Hanson’s One Nation Party has been meeting the National Rifle Assocation and offering to weaken Australia’s gun laws in exchange for political donations.
Senator Faruqi said:
“Reports showing that One Nation was trying to get political donations and support from the National Rifle Association in exchange for weakening gun laws is a dire warning for Australia.
“This just shows how craven the One Nation party is, in their pursuit of power they are willing to make us less safe by weakening our strong gun laws.
“This is particularly concerning in the wake of the recent horrific massacre of 50 innocent people in Christchurch.
“If the Liberal Party has any regard for the safety of Australians they must commit to putting Pauline Hanson’s One Nation last on their ticket.
“This is not a new problem, we know political parties have received hundreds of thousands of dollars gun lobbyists and manufacturers.
“We have become a little complacent about gun control in Australia.and there are people and political parties like One Nation who are trying to take advantage of that.
“We need to strengthen gun laws as a priority and ban all political donations from the gun industry” she concluded.