Ian Macfarlane (Groom, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Trade) Share this | Hansard source

I do not have any trouble keeping a straight face on this. I firmly believe that the long-term cost of this to the country will see our health system thrown into further chaos. If I had any confidence that the Rudd Labor government could address the public healthcare problems that we are seeing in Australia at the moment, perhaps my concerns may be lessened a little, but, having seen nothing but spin, having seen nothing that would give me any confidence that they actually even understand the long-term ramifications of this, I have no option but to oppose what is rampant vandalism of private health insurance in this country.

Half the population is being hit by Labor for a cheap, prebudget headline, and the other half will suffer from the pressure imposed on the public health industry and the public health system. No responsible government would take that position. No responsible government would put out a budget measure on the basis that it is going to save, in terms of families, $660 million over four years but at the same time see a saving to government of some $959 million, and that is the short-term impact. So the government puts $300 million in its pocket, the public health system gets loaded up, the private health system faces a crisis in terms of increases in health insurance premiums, and who loses? The average Australian. If we do not have stability in this area of private health insurance, if we do not have across-the-spectrum membership of these health insurance funds, then only those who are ill or at risk of becoming chronically ill are going to take up the insurance, and that will send the price of this insurance spiralling through the roof.

This is not good legislation. This has not been a good budget. It has been a high-taxing, high-spending budget. It has been a budget that has no regard for the long-term impacts in any area. What we are seeing in this particular piece of legislation is a philosophical opposition to health insurance combined with a smoke-and-mirrors trick where they portray it as a tax saving. They have even convinced members of their own backbench that it is a tax saving but the long-term implication is that taxes must rise. You cannot impose this sort of cost on the public health system and not have to pay for it. So, for a short-term saving, for a short-term gain, there is nothing but long-term pain.

We need to see from the Rudd Labor government a commitment to both private and public health, just as we need to see the same commitment on public and private education. It is a combination, where those who can, those who wish to or those who see it in their long-term benefit to take control of their own costs, decide whether or not they are going to use the private health system and decide whether or not they are prepared to set aside what is a significant part of their income to take out that health insurance. For doing that and for relieving the load on the public health system they should have some reward, and that is why we introduced the rebate and why we also put in place an incentive to encourage people to take out health insurance in the first place. This is bad legislation; the outcomes will be bad for all Australians. Short-term gains and long-term pain should never be the mantra of any government.

See this speech in context