Natasha Griggs (Solomon, Country Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on the Private Health Insurance Amendment (Lifetime Health Cover Loading and Other Measures) Bill 2012. While this bill is part of a cognate debate with the Private Health Insurance Legislation Amendment (Base Premium) Bill 2013, due to the Gillard Labor government once again rushing legislation through the House without allowing the coalition appropriate time to consider the bill through the normal processes, I will be focusing much of my contribution on the first bill: the Private Health Insurance Amendment (Lifetime Health Cover Loading and Other Measures) Bill.

Those on the other side just do not understand how important it is to have a strong private health insurance system in order to support a dynamic public system. The coalition recognises the importance of planning for the long term to meet the challenges which will come with an ageing population. On this side of the House we recognise the importance of encouraging the growth of the private health insurance system, which will help reduce the pressures the ageing population will place on our public health system.

The Howard government left office with a legacy of encouraging uptake of private health insurance and of supporting those Australians who wish to take out private health insurance for their families while still supporting a vibrant public health system. The Gillard Labor government, on the other hand, continues to mislead the Australian people. Before the election they supported private health insurance; now, after the election, they are doing all they can to discourage the uptake of private health cover. In The Courier Mailon 23 September 2004, the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, who was then the opposition spokesperson for health said: 'Labor is committed to the maintenance of this rebate'. Yet only the members of the coalition stand here today in this chamber ready to defend the private health insurance rebate. Again it is left to this side of the House to defend a promise made by the Gillard Labor government at the last election.

All the government's broken promises are creating huge stress and anxiety among Darwin and Palmerston residents. As I have discussions with mums and dads and grandparents, I am told over and over again that they are so worried for their children's futures that they just do not know how they can cope. They talk about the chaos and the instability wreaking havoc inside the Gillard Labor government and the uncertainty it is creating in their lives.

On the ground throughout Solomon I hear people's huge concerns about the introduction of the carbon tax—the carbon tax which we were told we were never going to have; another broken promise—and about the failure to deliver the surplus that Treasurer Swan promised would come hell or high water. But the people of Solomon cannot handle any more policy on the run. They have, quiet frankly, had enough. Yet today we are in this place again discussing another Gillard Labor government broken promise. This is now the second time the Gillard Labor government has reneged on their commitment not to cut the private health insurance rebate. This is just another blow to the already struggling, hardworking families of Darwin and Palmerston.

In my electorate, we have a huge defence population and, according to the 2011 census, a median age of 32, while Australia-wide it is 37. Yet, according to Private Healthcare Australia, as of 1 January 2013 over 53 per cent of my constituents had some sort of private health insurance. As we know, back in July 2000, Lifetime Health Cover was introduced by the Howard government, at a rate of two per cent per year loading on insurance premiums applied to individuals over the age of 30 when they took up private health insurance; it was capped at 70 per cent and removed after 10 years of continuous cover. This initiative was introduced to promote the uptake of private health insurance at a young age and to encourage individuals to retain their cover over their lifetime. I certainly did that. The Howard government understood, as the coalition continues to do today, the challenges of an ageing population and that supporting the growth of the private health system would reduce the pressure on an already strained public health system.

Currently, the private health insurance rebate is paid on the total of the premium and includes the Lifetime Health Cover loading. The legislation being put forward today takes away the part of the rebate which covers the Lifetime Health Cover loading. This legislation will also cease the incentive payment schemes which allow the direct claiming of the private health insurance rebate through the Department of Health services. It is estimated that these new measures will see a budgetary saving of around $386.3 million. This comes at the expense of the mums and dads throughout my electorate in Darwin and Palmerston. It has been estimated that the premiums will increase by up to 27.5 per cent from 1 July 2013 under these new measures.

Constituents across Solomon tell me they just cannot continue to endure the financial pain that this Gillard Labor government is inflicting on them. Some of them are struggling to keep their heads above water. Since the changes to the private health insurance rebate were announced in the latter part of last year, I have been contacted by a number of constituents from across the electorate who are opposed to these changes, and I would like to share some of those stories with you. Yesterday, I received an email from Robert Milliken of Fannie Bay, who raised his deep concern that these changes would force prices up for private health insurance. Robert told me how he was worried that these changes would be 'yet another legacy from a failed Labor government'. Kelly Hawes of Bellamack emailed me, deeply concerned about these changes. Kelly said it was becoming too 'expensive for me to be insured'. Shirley Andrews of Malak emailed me to say that the 'private health insurance rebate is of vital importance to allow me to provide health cover for my family' and that 'because of the changes … I may well have to consider dropping my cover'. Kathrine Carver of Alawa and Anita Goodgame of Parap contacted me to say that they fear the changes to the private health insurance rebate will mean that private health insurance for their families would be out of their reach. Then Julie Donohue of Wanguri emailed me to say that she was worried that these new changes would mean it was no longer affordable for her family to have cover. I was contacted by Judith Pouliot of Stuart Park who was upset that 'these new proposed changes will hurt Australians like me'.

Darrel Holmes of Leanyer has contacted me several times to raise his concerns about the proposed changes. In March, he told me how he had recently undergone back surgery at a private hospital in Sydney—a procedure that has an extended waiting period in the public system. If Darrel had not had private cover and had been forced to be on the public waiting list, the wait would have been too long, causing permanent damage and forcing him to be reliant on a wheelchair for the rest of his life. For Darrel, the public system was just not an option. He sent me another email only last weekend telling me how he feared these changes because it was likely he would have to 'drop out or downgrade' his insurance.

It is not fair or reasonable to expect that hardworking people of Darwin and Palmerston live their life with such uncertainty. The Gillard Labor government have overindulged, broken their surplus commitment and are now cutting the rebates to hardworking families that provide them with the support they need to gain access to frontline health services. This comes after we have seen the means testing of the private health insurance rebate, saving $2.8 billion. On 24 February 2009 the former health minister and member for Gellibrand, Nicola Roxon, said, 'The government is firmly committed to retaining the existing private health insurance rebate.' And yet they have broken that commitment, not once but twice: one rebate, two broken promises. It is not good enough.

I could not talk about health without mentioning my local hospital, the Royal Darwin Hospital, which services the residents of Darwin and Palmerston. According to the Gillard Labor government's own MyHospitals website, it treated over 50,000 patients between June 2010 and June 2011. This is a tremendous achievement and it is very much due to the hardworking staff of the hospital. However, Royal Darwin Hospital is strained to capacity. According to the MyHospitals website, the Gillard Labor government set its own target for 2011-12, the final full financial year of the former Territory Labor government, of 69 per cent of all patients to be in and out of the emergency departments of Northern Territory hospitals within four hours. Sadly, only 54 per cent of patients at Royal Darwin Hospital departed the emergency department in four hours. Again according to the government's figures, the median wait time for general surgery is 31 days nationally and at the Royal Darwin Hospital it is 49 days. So the Gillard Labor government's own figures show that the Territory health system is under pressure, yet it is ignoring these indicators and putting more pressure on the system. It can be argued that the Darwin Private Hospital alleviates a lot of the pressure on the Royal Darwin Hospital because the two hospitals work closely together and because 50 per cent of the people in my electorate have private health insurance. The private hospital has around 100 beds, which is a third of the capacity of the Royal Darwin Hospital, and it is significantly reducing pressure on the Territory health system, as I said.

According to the Private Health Insurance Administration Council, in the five years to 2012 private health insurance has seen 'exclusions and restrictions … becoming more prevalent', which is what those constituents of mine are telling me they are having to look at. They have also found that the increased exclusions 'may work against the policy objective of private health insurance easing the burdens on public hospitals', and that is my fear. The Private Health Insurance Administration Council also reported $1.2 billion worth of prepayments in the June quarter last year as people tried to defer the pain of the Gillard Labor government's cuts causing premium increases. That means that we really have not seen the full implications yet of the prepayments.

We have seen slashes to frontline services through the cuts to the private health insurance rebate, public hospitals and the closure of the Chronic Disease Dental Scheme. This bill will only further add complexity to the private health insurance industry. The Gillard Labor government's means-testing measures last year have led to the establishment of 12 pricing structures for private health premiums.

These measures introduced by the Gillard Labor government today are forcing the private health insurance sector back decades. Private health insurance companies are seeing dramatic increases in their administrative costs to deal with the measures—only escalating premiums further. The Howard government, as previously said, cemented the growth of the private health sector. In fact, under the previous coalition government, the number of people with private health insurance had increased by over 75 per cent.

I finish by saying that along with my coalition colleagues we understand on this side of the House that communities are far better off when the public and private health systems work hand in hand. Labor is not a friend of private health insurance. It consistently has tried to make private health insurance unattractive to Australians and has broken promise after promise on private health insurance. Unfortunately, because of Labor's reckless spending, its poor economic management and its incompetence, there is now a budget emergency. This government is saying these changes are savings measures.

We on this side of the House do not like these changes one little bit. They go against our DNA. Unlike Labor, we are strong supporters of private health insurance. Those on the other side, as the member for Kooyong said, are engaging in class warfare and think that if you have private health insurance you must be rich. My electorate is not rich—but 54 per cent of those people have private health insurance. They are just hardworking mums and dads who want a choice, who want to take responsibility for themselves.

It is outrageous that Labor thinks it a crime to be aspirational or to take responsibility for yourself. Labor's attack on private health insurance is not fair. This government cannot be trusted. I hope that on 14 September the people in my electorate see what is happening and vote me back in so that I can be a member of a, hopefully, Abbott-led government. We will not let this sort of stuff happen.

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