Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Hansard source

I point out to the member for Lalor that competition and not government ownership is the best guarantee of good service. I make two further points. When members opposite had some sense of responsibility they actually believed in privatisation. They privatised the Commonwealth Bank and they privatised Qantas. They did that because they knew that privatisation could and would be good for those enterprises. I say it will be just as good for Medibank Private as it was for those organisations which the former Labor government privatised. The other point I make about private health insurance is that this government is the best friend that private health insurance has ever had. Most of all, thanks to the private health insurance rebate, premiums are $1,000 a year lower for the average family than they otherwise would be. The first thing that members opposite would do, if they got into government, would be to abolish the private health insurance rebate.

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