Nicola Roxon (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Health) Share this | Hansard source

I welcome the comments of the parliamentary secretary. Obviously Labor have been interested, through the Senate process and also in the House, to try to improve this package of bills, and we are pleased that the government has seen its way to coming on board and supporting Labor’s amendments, which were moved here and in the Senate to protect the clinical autonomy of doctors. We are, of course, disappointed that the government would not support our amendment which sought to retain the minimisation of private health insurance premiums as an objective of PHIAC, the industry regulator. But we are happy to support the large number of amendments that are in this package, as they relate to the governance and regulatory issues. They do not alter the content of the package and we understand, as the parliamentary secretary has noted, that further consultations with industry have improved this bill.

We should note, however, that we are not exactly cynical but are frustrated sometimes that, when we have such a detailed package over which there is some significant consultation, we are still in this place moving in the order of hundreds of amendments rather than one or two over a particular policy issue or a particular oversight. It does make it a little more difficult for the parliament to do its job well, but we appreciate that a range of these issues were flushed out through the Senate process and welcome that the parliament has worked well in identifying those changes that were needed.

Question agreed to.

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