Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise tonight to talk on the Fairer Private Health Insurance Incentives Bill 2011. There are three points that I would like to make loud and clear. The first is that what we are debating tonight is an issue of trust—whether we can trust this government to say one thing before an election and then do that after an election. It is sad to say that this private health insurance piece of legislation that we are debating tonight adds to the list of broken promises. I would also like to discuss its implications on the cost of living, which is increasing on a daily basis for Australian citizens. This piece of legislation, sadly, will once again add to this cost of living. The third point I would like to make is about what this bill will do to cost shifting from the Commonwealth to the states. The state governments are already facing increased health costs. The Labor government on coming into power said that they were going to do something about that, that they were going to stop the blame game, that they were going to fix our health system. But what do we see them doing with this piece of legislation? They are moving the cost of health care away from the Commonwealth and onto the states. Those are the three issues that I would like to garner tonight.

I will start on the basic issue of trust. Truth is a five-letter word and I suggest to the Prime Minister—if it is okay, Madam Deputy Speaker—that she might learn how to spell it and act on it because, as we saw with the carbon tax, one thing was said before the last election and one thing was done after it. To be fair to the Prime Minister, on this occasion she was the member of a cabinet. She was not the Prime Minister but she was a member of the cabinet when the decision was made to say one thing before the 2007 election on the private health insurance rebate and then do another thing afterwards. But it was a precursor of what was to come.

Let us look at the letter that Kevin Rudd wrote to the honourable Dr Michael Armitage. I think it is worth just briefly going through it. It says:

Dear Dr Armitage,

Thankyou for your letter of 29 October 2007 seeking clarification on Federal Labor’s policy regarding private health insurance.

Both my Shadow Minister for Health, Nicola Roxon, and I have made clear on many occasions this year that Federal Labor is committed to retaining the existing private health insurance rebates, including the 30 per cent general rebate and the 35 and 40 per cent rebates for older Australians.

Federal Labor will also maintain Lifetime Health Cover and the Medicare Levy Surcharge.

Labor will maintain the existing framework for regulating private health insurance, including the process for approval of premium increases. Zero per cent premium adjustment is not Labor policy;

I understand Nicola Roxon’s office has also confirmed with you that Federal Labor has no plans to require private health insurance funds to make equivalent payments to public hospitals for patients who elect to be treated as private patients.

I trust this allays your concerns. Federal Labor values its relationship with the private health insurance sector and we look forward to this continuing regardless of the election outcome on November 24.

As we know, Kevin Rudd was elected Prime Minister and Julia Gillard became a cabinet minister of the Rudd government.

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