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

I thank the House for this attention and I also thank my friend and colleague the member for Hinkler for getting this crowd together to listen to my remarks. I am determined to expose the flaws in the Fairer Private Health Insurance Incentives Bill 2011 and the associated bills. But I also foreshadow that, at the conclusion of this contribution, I will be moving an amendment that the legislation in question be laid on the table for the duration of this parliament.

I will be doing that because we do need an election. Minority government in this country is an experiment which has failed. Minority government has given us an administration which is incompetent and dishonest and it has given us a Prime Minister who is incompetent and untrustworthy.

This is a Prime Minister who is guilty of serial betrayals. She betrayed her former leader over the prime ministership, she betrayed the Australian people over the carbon tax, she betrayed the member for Denison over poker machine reform and now, in this legislation before the House, she is betraying the 12 million Australians with private health insurance. In particular, this Prime Minister is betraying the 2½ million Australians who will face massive increases in their private health insurance premium because of her broken promise.

Let us be very clear that the legislation before the chamber today is a betrayal. It is a betrayal of the clear commitments made up hill and down dale by members of the Labor Party. Before the 2007 election, the then Leader of the Labor Party, the member for Griffith, said:

… Federal Labor is committed to retaining the existing private health insurance rebates …

No ifs, no buts, no qualifications—an absolutely categorical statement. The then shadow minister for health, now the Attorney-General, said again in writing before the 2007 election:

…We are committed to retaining all of the existing private health insurance rebates.

Again, no ifs, no buts, no qualifications, no fine print. That is what the shadow minister said. Finally, the words of the now Prime Minister, at the time the shadow minister for health:

People should have no concern that Labor will erode or abolish the 30 per cent rebate for private health insurance.

No 'concern'—mark this word—that Labor will erode the private health insurance rebate. What is a means test attacking 2½ million Australians if it is not a clear erosion of this rebate? It is an absolute betrayal by this Prime Minister of a solemn commitment that she has made. She said, 'I grow tired of saying this.' Poor, poor Julia Gillard! Poor, poor member for Lalor! She grew tired of saying it. I tell you what: I know why she grew tired of saying it. She knew it was false.

Time after time in this parliament before the 2007 election I would stand up and say, 'As sure as night follows day, if there is a change of government they will rip the guts out of private health insurance because Labor hates private health insurance.' Day after day, the now Prime Minister would stand up and come to the despatch box and say, 'Well, that was a lie.' Well, wrong. It was the truth, and the truth is that this Prime Minister never tells the truth. This Prime Minister is always guilty of falsehoods, of bluster and of deception.

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