SENATOR PENNY WONG, LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION IN THE SENATE: Thanks very much for being here. Its great to be here with Anna Aly, our fantastic candidate for Cowan, and Rob Pearson our candidate for Stirling, here at Newpark to talk about Medicare.

Medicare was built by the Labor Party, it was built by Labor Governments. And we know the Liberals have never been supporters of Medicare. We know that the Liberal Party in government has previously tried to undercut Medicare and they tried to do it again. We have seen the Abbott and Turnbull Governments trying to put a GP Tax onto the shoulders of working class and middle class Australians. Middle Australia was being asked to pay GPs a co-payment by Malcolm Turnbull and by Tony Abbott and they have spent the last three years trying to introduce a GP Tax. They couldnt get it through the Senate, so now weve got a GP Tax by stealth.

Thats what Malcolm Turnbull wants, a GP Tax by stealth. By freezing how much Medicare is paid to doctors for six years, we know it will simply require doctors to introduce co-payments - thats upfront fees - and we know what that means. It means fewer people will see a doctor when they need to. That means worse health outcomes for them and more money spent in our public hospitals which are already overstretched, having had their funding cut also by Malcolm Turnbull.

Labor is the party of Medicare and we have made very clear that one of our central priorities in this campaign is to protect Medicare. Im standing in front of a clinic, which sees a lot of people from the local area and across Perth, which bulk bills and which is able to bulk bill because of a Medicare system built by the Labor Governments. But we know, this is a system under attack from Malcolm Turnbull. Weve said very clearly were prepared to reverse this Governments position. Were prepared to say to doctors and to patients and to Australians we will protect Medicare, we will return the indexation to the Medicare rebates, because we want Medicare to stay universal and accessible and in Australia you should get to see a doctor because of your Medicare card not because of your credit card. Happy to t ake questions.

JOURNALIST: Will your policy on renewable, to bringing Commonwealth energy use up to fifty percent renewable energy by 2030 come at any cost to the Government?

WONG: Even Tony Abbotts own hand-picked panel on renewables made clear that bringing more renewable energy into the system actually put downward pressure on wholesale electricity prices, so anything other than that is a scare campaign from Malcolm Turnbull, who really is turning into Tony Abbott every day as the election campaign proceeds.

JOURNALIST: The Government has accused you of conducting a war on growth and raising taxes to fund your spending. Will your Budget bottom line over four years be worse that the Governments?

WONG: Well you know the war thats being conducted is a war against Medicare, a war against proper funding for our schools, a war against fairness, a war against a lot that is decent in this country. That is what Malcolm Turnbull is putting in place.

Now, when it comes to Labors costings, well do better than the Government. We know at the last election the Liberal Party released their full costings just a couple of days before Australians voted. That was in the same election that they told Australians there would be no cuts to health, no cuts to education. Well, we all know that wasnt true. We all know that wasnt true. There were cuts to health. There were cuts to education. So we will do better than the Government and Labor has always been about building a strong economy. but also building a fair society.

JOURNALIST: The Treasurer says that you will leave voters with higher taxes, debt and deficit. Its true, isnt it that you are proposing increases in taxation and not going ahead with Coalition tax cuts on business?

WONG: Lets understand the biggest hit on the budget that is being proposed in this election campaign is the Liberal Partys promise to give a massive tax cut to big business. Now were up for a tax cut for small business. We understand thats important and we have been talking about it for some time. Were not up for a tax cut on businesses with a turnover of $1 billion. We dont see why the priority for Australians should be a tax cut that benefits the big banks and foreign shareholders at the expense of Australian schools and Medicare. Thats not good policy for Australians. That is not the future Australians want.

JOURNALIST: When will voters know what a Labor Governments budget bottom line position will be?

WONG: As I said, well do better than the Government. We will do better than the Liberal Party who announced their policy costings in full two days before the vote on the last occasion. The same election where they said they wouldnt cut health and education. We will do better than that and we will always ensure that our priority is education because that is good for growth and jobs and because all of us want our kids to have a sound education, a good education, and of course Medicare. We will always protect Medicare.

JOURNALIST: Finally, how committed are you to bringing down the deficit?

WONG: Look, we have been very clear about the importance of making sure you have improvements to the Budget, which enable you to fund schools and Medicare but we want budget repair thats fair. But lets understand the biggest hit to the budget in this election campaign, the biggest hit on the budget is Malcolm Turnbulls $50 billion tax cut for big business. That is the biggest hit on the budget. It is more than Labors proposing to spend on schools and more than Labors proposing to spend on Medicare. The biggest hit on the budget is a $50 billion tax cut. That is the choice Australians have at this election is a $50 billion tax cut to business or investment in our schools and in Medicare. Thank you.

ENDS