Ms Catherine King (Ballarat, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Health) Share this | Hansard source

The same government department bureaucrats who engaged in that so-called 'witch-hunt' are actually here, so you might want to be a bit more respectful of those people. Further, more than 20 per cent of recipients were not pensioners or concession card holders, and more than 20 per cent of spending was on high-cost restorative services.

Following representations from the Australian Dental Association and other groups, which outlined that dentists had not been aware of their obligations until April 2010, the government has decided that debts due to the Commonwealth solely as a result of noncompliance with section 10(2) before this time should be waived. Labor supports that approach. The government has further decided that debts due solely to noncompliance after April 2010 should be waived as long as the dentist can demonstrate an intention to comply with their obligations. Labor, again, supports that approach. The minister describes this as 'dentists who did nothing more than make minor paperwork errors and who have been waiting for way too long for adequate resolution.' It is worth noting that debt waivers are already proceeding under section 34 of the Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997; however, the government thinks this is a slow and unwieldy process that requires unnecessary administration and processing in both the Department of Human Services and the Department of Finance.

Some dentists have already paid debts to the Commonwealth that fall under this waiver, and this bill provides for those amounts to be repaid to the dentist. Again, we support that. Labor takes very seriously the issue of inappropriate professional behaviour and supports the application of compliance powers as well as the operation of the Professional Services Review scheme. We will not be opposing this section of the bill, but we note the minister's assurance that:

… this amendment will not excuse those dentists—a small number—who did not comply with other legal requirements of the scheme or, in particular, who committed fraud. Only those dentists who provided services in good faith will be eligible to have their debt waived.

That is as it should be. The bill also amends the Health Insurance Act 1973 and the Dental Benefits Act 2008 to introduce what the minister describes as 'critical changes for the efficient operation of the child dental benefits scheme.' These changes bring the compliance framework for the Child Dental Benefits Schedule into greater alignment with Medicare's compliance framework and include the power to compel a provider to comply with a request to produce documents to substantiate the payment of benefits. This is aimed at ensuring this scheme is targeted at those it was intended for—the low- and middle-income earners who qualify for family tax benefit part A or similar payments. This bill amends both acts so that the Professional Services Review scheme can be applied to any dental services provided under the child dental benefits scheme so that suspected cases of inappropriate practice can be investigated.

The Professional Service Review is an independent authority which has operated under the Health Insurance Act since 1994 to examine suspected cases of inappropriate practice under Medicare referred by the Department of Human Services. Dentists providing services under the MBS are covered by the Professional Service Review and it would be appropriate that dentists providing services that attract a benefit under the Dental Benefits Act are also covered by the PSR scheme. This bill also enables the Chief Executive Medicare and relevant employees of the Department of Human Services to obtain documentation from a dentist to substantiate the payment benefits under the child dental benefits scheme. Again, as these changes appear to be designed to reinforce Labor's intent when we introduced the scheme, Labor will not be opposing this.

Finally, the bill makes a number of technical amendments to the Dental Benefits Act, including: clarifying provisions related to the disclosure of protected information; allowing the delegation of ministerial powers to the Secretary, or an SES employee, of the Department of Health; amending the definition of dental provider; and correcting a minor technical error in section 4. Again, Labor will not be opposing these changes.

But I want to finish back where I started. We have serious concerns not so much about what is in this bill, but what the minister said when introducing it—namely his so-called concerns with the way in which the child dental benefits scheme has been structured, and that he is keeping a watching brief on these concerns. We have seen this before. This government's concerns are wholly manufactured excuses to lay the groundwork for cuts. Well, minister, Labor has concerns about what you have had to say and what you plan to do to this scheme and rest assured, we will be keeping a watching brief on you as well.

As I flagged earlier, I would now like to move an amendment to this bill. Therefore, I move:

That all words after 'That' be omitted with a view to substituting the following words:

'whilst not declining to give the bill a second reading, the House notes that the bill is one in a range of changes the government is proposing that will increase the cost of healthcare for all Australians.'

See this speech in context