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

She said yesterday:

... what’s public about a hospital that’s managed for profit and who’s generating this profit? Is it coming out of the pockets of patients?

The member for Lalor does not like being told it, but she is still a socialist at heart. She hates the private sector. Then there was the dog whistle on health. She said yesterday:

Do they—

Australians—

want an American-style health system in this country with Medibank Private gone and then Medicare on the chopping block?

Quite apart from the knee-jerk anti-Americanism involved there, the member for Lalor thinks that, if you say ‘privatise Medibank’ fast enough, people might think the government wants to sell Medicare itself. That is the dog whistle that she is practising.

Let me make it absolutely clear that the Howard government is the best friend that Medicare has ever had. We understand that public health services in this country have long been delivered by the private sector. It is high time the member for Lalor gave the private sector the credit it deserves.

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