Hon Patrick Gorman MP on Sky Afternoon Agenda

TOM CONNELL, HOST: We're almost there, aren't we? An election campaign - we think we're on the cusp of it. Joining me now, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister, Patrick Gorman and former Liberal MP Jason Falinski, who this time, can just watch on. Are you feeling more relaxed, Jason? Or is FOMO kicking in right now?

JASON FALINSKI, FORMER LIBERAL MP: Definitely FOMO, Tom. I'm missing the cut and thrust of it all, I have to admit.

CONNELL: And standing on the street and getting all that free advice as well?

FALINSKI: So some of it could be quite costly advice. I mean, Pat, what's the most costly piece of advice you've ever got off the street?

PATRICK GORMAN, ASSISTANT MINISTER TO THE PRIME MINISTER: It'd be dangerous to repeat that, Jason, but thank you for invitation to put out some suggested criticisms. I almost walked into your trap there, but I'm match fit, ready for an election, so I'm not going to.

CONNELL: T-shirt fresh from the printers, as well, Patrick Gorman.

FALINSKI: I've got to say, you're looking pretty cute, Pat.

GORMAN: I'm here at the Hyde Park Fair. This is one of the big festivals in my electorate. Some 60,000 people come down here to support North Perth Rotary. So it's a big day in the Perth electorate. It's a public holiday here in the West. But even on a public holiday, I didn't want to miss out my opportunity to have a chat to yourself, and to a lesser extent, Jason.

CONNELL: Look at that - good message to stick with the show, even if your family are probably wondering why you're absent yet again, even when you get the day off. And you've got 'Labor Red,' so you're sticking with the brand when some of your colleagues are ditching it, Pat. Let me ask you this, though, these Urgent Care Clinics. Now, I know you're busy. It's a public holiday, so I've crunched the numbers for you; six in Perth, four of them in marginal Labor seats, and one other in a safe Labor seat. So, five out of six Labor seats. Just a coincidence, this announcement?

GORMAN: Look, when it comes to Western Australia, of course, we've put these where the need exists. We've already got eight Medicare Urgent Care Clinics, including in Bunbury, which your viewers would know is not a marginal Labor seat. It's been held by the Liberal Party, but the Bunbury Urgent Care Clinic has been a great success. And that's why, in this latest announcement, we've got another great story to tell for Geraldton, which is in the seat of Durack, which has been held by the Liberals since the seat was created, some 15 years ago. These Medicare Urgent Care Clinics are simply about giving people the healthcare they need for those urgencies when they happen, without putting pressure on our emergency departments. Now, if for some reason, these Medicare Urgent Care Clinics made Peter Dutton angry, that says more about Peter Dutton's approach to Medicare than it says about anyone else.

CONNELL: Jason, is it - are the commuter carparks a bit too soon to go on the attack over port barrelling here?

FALINSKI: I tell you what - a joke about commuter carparks, it's still too soon for that, Tom. But yeah, look, Pat's right. These are going to those people who most need them, like marginal seat Labor Party members. I mean, they are the people most in need at this time of year. And I think it's highly cynical of you Tom to say otherwise. But in all seriousness, this, this, this announcement, is just a reflection of the fact that the Labor Party has failed on health. That, you know, what these Urgent Care Centres are meant to do is what emergency rooms are meant to do, or what GPs are meant to do, and what pharmacists are meant to do. So now we've got yet another backstop that happens to be an announceable just before an election, and they all happen to be located in - or most of them - are located in marginal Labor seats. It's cynicism of the highest form.

CONNELL: Let me ask you about the other big health announcement, Patrick, so bulk billing. What's interesting about this is that the headline figures, so two and a half billion dollars is the cost and the benefit, and this is in the announcement, $860 million to patients. Does that mean doctors pocket the rest effectively?

GORMAN: What we're trying to do is make sure that we help families save money when they're going to the GP and keep more doctors in the bulk billing system, and also encourage doctors to enter it. What we see for a family in Western Australia, a family would save somewhere between $360 to $400 a year using an average amount of GP services under this plan. Now I know when I talk to people, I've been at my stall at the Hyde Park Fair, people have heard our Medicare announcements. There is support for doing something serious about bulk billing. That's what we're doing. Some people will seek to pick it apart, and I can see through that picking it apart -

CONNELL: Okay, so when you say, 'keep doctors in,' does that mean that other amount of money, which is more than half of it, that is about retaining doctors? So actually, this is a big payment to the doctors of Australia?

GORMAN: Well, I want to keep those doctors that are doing the right thing by their communities and bulk billing, I want to make sure that we continue to support them while encouraging other doctors. And if I think about my community here in Perth, I want more bulk billing practices, and this is the incentive to get that done. And I think people will go at the end of the day, 'if you can do something serious about bulk billing, which is one of the fundamental bedrocks of our healthcare system, it's what Medicare is all about, if we can do something about it, we should.' And I'm really proud of it. What you've got from the Coalition is every time Labor says 'Medicare,' the Liberal Party seem to try and find a way to pick it apart. When they're in government, they pick apart Medicare with GP taxes, and massive cuts -

CONNELL: Okay, I'm going to go to Jason on this -

GORMAN: - And when they're in Opposition, they're always picking it apart trying to find a reason to say -

CONNELL: What do you think, Jason? So - well, they did say they'd do it. They matched this in record time. Jason, should the Coalition have actually had a look at this announcement before just matching it? Where is your sort of fiscal discipline we keep getting told your party is all about?

FALINSKI: Tom, I totally agree with you. I mean, the one difference between us and the Labor Party on this is that we know how we're going to fund it. They have no idea other than through higher taxes and higher debt. The fact of the matter is that when we're in Government -

GORMAN: You're going to fund it with public service cuts!

FALINSKI: - and Patrick can say that we don't like Medicare -

GORMAN: You're going to chop away at Centrelink!

FALINSKI: - but the fact of the matter is - hey, Patrick, just go back to doorknocking small wine bars. The fact is that what we had was bulk billing rates were at 88%. Under this government, they've fallen to 77%. Tom, you're right. What people like about and love about our health system is the universal nature of it. The problem with how it is administered by the Labor Party is it's not about Australians or for Australians, particularly people who are trying to get their children looked after or get healthcare. Most of the money goes to medical practitioners, and it's not right. We have one of the most expensive healthcare systems in the world, and not just healthcare, it goes to aged care, NDIS, pharmaceutical benefits -

CONNELL: So, should your party have not just matched this straight away? Were they scared into doing that?

FALINSKI: Tom, I think that they were - that what they were trying to do was take the issue off the table so it doesn't become an issue of contention during an election campaign, it was highly cynical of Labor to announce it now -

GORMAN: Why do you want to take Medicare off the table, Jason? Why do the Liberals want to take Medicare off the table? Is there something you're embarrassed about?

FALINSKI: No, no, Patrick, we just don't want Australia divided over the issue of whether people should have access to universal healthcare, which we agree with. And because we still remember in 2016 the cynical and outrageous campaign run by Bill Shorten and the Labor Party claiming that we were going to somehow try and privatise Medicare. I don't know how to break it to the Australian people, but the Medicare system is about giving away billions of dollars a year. That's not how businesses work. So it was - actually we are unable to privatise it. So that is why.

CONNELL: Okay, we're nearly out of time. We think next time we talk, we'll be in the election campaign. Just nod a couple of times, if that's the case, next Monday, will you, Pat?

GORMAN: [Silence].

FALINSKI: Blink twice?

CONNELL: That is the stoniest I've seen him. Yeah, we might have - the shot might have frozen. Patrick Gorman, I can't even tell if he's lost communication, or something he's done. So I think that was a nod. All right, no we'll let you off, Patrick, thank you. Get back out to the park and maybe pop in and, you know, make sure your family know you're there on a day off too. And Jason, thank you. We'll talk again soon, and election soon enough, we think, from that hint.