Maybe it is because a genuine fix demands so much that the political focus on access to specialist care has been vacuum-packed into one issue: those charging excessive fees. Or to put it another way: the greedy doctor debate.

The federal parliamentary inquiry into the subject is unpicking that deeper issue: the concerns about what is happening to outpatient clinics around Australia.

“People are telling us they are waiting three, four, five years to be seen in a public hospital clinic — it is unacceptable,” says Dr Monique Ryan, a paediatric neurologist turned politician who is deputy chair of the House Standing Committee on Health, Aged Care and Disability.

To get a scale of the issue, about one-third of the estimated 30 million non-GP specialist appointments in Australia occur in public outpatient clinics, rising to almost three-quarters for some specialties, including oncology and anaesthesia.