Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Ageing) Share this | Hansard source

The opposition refuses point-blank to support bad legislation, and this is bad legislation. The minister talks quite dishonestly about a tax savings. If she wants to present a tax savings to the parliament for the Australian public, then increase the thresholds or decrease the tax rates—do it in the normal way—but do not pretend that this is about providing a tax cut to the Australian people. This is an ideological attack on private health insurance in this country. She talks about providing benefit to 250,000—the numbers change quite dramatically on a daily basis. She talks about providing tax cuts to a quarter of a million people. She neglects to remind the House and the Australian people that this will mean a hike in premiums for 10 million Australians who have private health insurance. For that the Rudd government should stand condemned. They should stand condemned because this is bad policy that is going to drive half a million people off private health and into the public health system, a system which is already at breaking point. To say to people, particularly older Australians who are on waiting lists around the country at the moment, that it is acceptable to push 500,000 more people onto waiting lists around the country is a disgrace by this Rudd government.

This is going to rip $2½ billion out of premiums out of the private health sector. That is going to have to be borne by somebody and it will be borne by those 10 million Australians who have private health insurance. None of these questions have been addressed or answered properly by this minister. When in question time today the minister was asked how much premiums would go up by as a result of this government action, she refused to answer. When this minister was asked in question time today exactly what cosy deals had been done with the states to compensate them for the extra burden on their waiting lists, she refused to answer that as well.

She provided advice yesterday to ABC radio that it was too difficult for Treasury to forecast how by much premiums were going to go up. How can you introduce public policy into this parliament that will affect 10 million Australians and not have the proper costings done by Treasury? That is why this minister and this Prime Minister stand condemned. That is why 10 million Australians are going to see an increase in their private health premiums, and it is why the public hospital system is going to be under greater stress right around the country. This Rudd government is managing health exactly the way in which state Labor has managed health for the last 10 years, and it is a disgrace. That is why we condemn this government. That is why we oppose these amendments and this bill.

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