Kate Ellis (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Education) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today not just to speak against the Health Insurance Amendment (Safety Net) Bill 2015, but also to urge everybody to stand up against this legislation. I urge those members opposite to not blindly follow their executive in walking down this pathway which will lead to cruel outcomes for the Australians who rely upon our health system and who will face the consequences if this piece of legislation is allowed to pass.

We have heard that this is about finding savings; it is about finding savings in our multibillion dollar health system. The government has brought forward this piece of legislation because they seek to find what on paper is $270 million in savings. That is the bottom line when you look at it in black and white. But we know that in finding those savings they will be impacting the lives of thousands of Australians, they will be impacting the families of thousands of Australians and they will lead to cruel and short-sighted consequences of this legislation, which we must stand up against.

I would urge those members opposite to have a look at what the consequences of this bill passing the parliament would be. I note members before me have spoken in detail about a range of different consequences. I would like to particularly focus on the impact on one group of Australians that the passing of this bill would have—that is, the group of Australians who rely upon access to IVF in order to have the families that they have always dreamt about.

What we are talking about is the impact of this bill on thousands of people. We know, for example, that the use of assisted reproductive technologies, such as in-vitro fertilisation, has steadily grown in Australia. According to the most recent Australia and New Zealand assisted reproduction database, 12,000 babies were born in 2012, following assisted reproductive treatment in Australia and New Zealand. That is 12,000 babies and 12,000 families.

We also know that, according to the Harvard Medical School, one study of 200 couples seen consecutively at a fertility clinic found that half of the women and 15 per cent of the men said that infertility was the most upsetting experience of their lives. Harvard also noted that many individuals who experience infertility experience emotions common to those who are grieving a significant loss. They are struggling with the loss of the ability to procreate. Frustration, anger, despair, loss of self-confidence and loss of self-worth are common emotions, and this can put pressure not just on those individuals but on the relationship in the first place.

We know this because of Harvard research but we also know this because every one of us in this place represents couples who have sought IVF in order to have their families, in order to get the children that they have dreamt about. I know through constituents that I represent, through local residents and also through friends who have accessed IVF just how stressful that experience can be. From speaking to them I know about the pressure, the emotional strain, the anxiety that is put on couples who want nothing more than to be able to have the baby that they will love and cherish but have been unable to do so.

The piece of legislation currently before the parliament would mean that these couples could see the cost of a cycle of IVF increase from $4,000 up to $10,000 to $15,000 per cycle. That is according to the Fertility Society of Australia. We know that this would put inordinate financial strain on many parents who are desperate to have children. Members opposite should consider: if you are going to rise in this place, if you are going to speak in support of this bill, if you are going to use your vote to support this bill and blindly follow your minister and Prime Minister as they seek to find $270 million in savings, you should be prepared to stand up and explain to the couples that you represent, to the parents who are desperate to have a child that, because of your actions in supporting this legislation, those families may have to make the sacrifice of trying to scrounge to find $10,000 to $15,000 in order to access a cycle of IVF, that those families may have to deal with not just the emotional stress, not just the anxiety of not knowing whether or not a cycle is going to be successful but also the financial burden, the additional pressure that comes from knowing that, if that cycle is not successful, they may not be able to afford trying again. Members opposite, if you are prepared to stand up and support this bill, you should be prepared to look those would-be parents in the face and say you are willing to sacrifice their dreams of having a family because this is a government too lazy to do the work to find more sensible savings. You should be prepared to take responsibility for the fact that many families may not ever be able to access a cycle of IVF because of the financial burden. That is something that members opposite must absolutely consider if they are even contemplating supporting this bill.

We know the financial considerations. According to the Fertility Society of Australia, one in six couples in Australia and New Zealand suffer infertility—that is one in six of the constituents that I represent and one in six of the constituents that every member of this parliament represents. IVF private patients currently face out-of-pocket costs of around $4,000 per cycle. We know that success rates vary dramatically. Many couples need multiple cycles of IVF. The emotional strain builds up but the financial burden also builds up. At the same time, there will be many individuals for which IVF will not be successful, and these families have to deal with the grief, the stress and the sense of loss that comes with that as well as, if the government has their way, the out-of-pocket expenses, which can skyrocket as a result of this bill.

I give this information because, as with any legislation, it is important that every member of this House has a look a the real-world impacts of the bills that we are debating. It is not acceptable for members of this parliament to just blindly line up behind their minister and not accept personal responsibility for the consequences of this bill for Australians who want nothing more than to have a child, who want nothing more than to be able to access IVF in order to build the families that they have dreamt about. We know that bulk-billing IVF clinics are not widespread. We know that many couples turn to private IVF as their only option. It is each and every one of these families that will be impacted as a result of this piece of legislation.

If that were not bad enough, the government has simply not even bothered to do their homework to justify why these cuts are necessary. When Labor was in government, we made changes to the safety net. We are not for a moment coming into this parliament and trying to argue that the safety net is perfect or that we do not need to look at making changes, but we absolutely come into this parliament and say that you have to do your homework and make sure that you know what the consequences of those changes would be. When Labor made changes to the safety net, they were supported by two independent reports—thorough studies of what the situation was and what the situation would be as a result of the changes to the safety net. This government comes into this parliament and proposes this legislation which would impact families trying to access IVF, which would impact cancer patients across Australia and which would impact patients who desperately need access to a range of psychiatric services. They do so without having done any of the independent studies; without having gone out and made the case; without having laid out what the consequences of this bill would be, who would be impacted and by how much they would be impacted.

I say that, as a parliament, we need to stand up and say, 'That is not good enough.' As a parliament we need to stand up and say, 'We will not deny Australian families access to IVF services when the government is too lazy even to do their homework and to outline what the impact of that would be.' As a parliament we must stand up and say, 'It is not good enough to rip away people's dreams of having a family when we have a minister who cannot even make the case and who cannot even stand up and outline the data about what the impact of these cuts would be.' This is lazy legislation; but, worse than that, it is legislation which will impact on some of the Australians who most need access to our health system and who would be denied as a result of this.

We know that the Australian Medical Association is opposed to these changes. Their president has said:

The new Medicare Safety Net arrangements, together with the ongoing freeze of Medicare patient rebates, mean that growing out-of-pocket costs will become a reality for all Australian families, including the most vulnerable patients in our community.

We know that the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners has also warned about the impact of these changes, especially in the context of the government's GP tax and through its ongoing freeze of Medicare indexation. The president of the college, Professor Frank Jones, has said:

… coupled with the indexation freeze, the legislation will actually increase the cost of care to vulnerable groups. Safety net thresholds will increase by CPI annually while rebates are frozen.

Some may argue that the government have not had a chance to make the case and to look at what the impacts would be. So desperate is their need to find this $270 million in savings that they need to get this piece of legislation through, without having done the simplest of homework. But those who try to argue that should consider that this is not a new initiative. This is not from this year's budget. This is legislation that stems out of the 2014 budget that this government introduced. Since 2014, the government have had the opportunity to look at what the impacts would be and to make sure that there were not going to be any negative consequences for the Australian families who need access to the health system the most. They have failed to do so. They have failed to make the case, because this is a government that is so arrogant that they think that they can just make a decision and not even consider who it will be affecting and what the consequences of it will be.

I want to make it very clear to this parliament, as many of my colleagues have outlined, that we are deeply concerned about the impact this legislation will have on cancer patients. We are deeply concerned about the consequences that we know psychiatrists across Australia have pointed out. But we are also deeply concerned about the fact that this is a government that would wander into this parliament and introduce legislation which will have a profound impact on whether Australian couples have children, whether Australian couples can make the families that they have dreamt of. We are deeply concerned that they would do something so massive, without having done their homework, without having produced the data and without having made the case.

I urge each and every member of this parliament: if you are not prepared to stand up and say directly to the parents who need access to IVF that you are happy for them to be slugged $10,000 to $15,000 for each and every cycle of IVF that they may need, then you need to stand up and vote against this legislation. It is as simple as that. If members are prepared to support this legislation, they are prepared to support one of the cruellest sacrifices that this parliament could make Australian families do.

We know that this is a government who looks for savings and who looks to rip money from the Australians who need it the most. But is this a parliament that is going to support us ending the dream of Australian couples to start a family, because the government is too lazy to do their homework, to come up with considered policy and to make sure that they find $270 million amongst the multibillion-dollar health system, without ripping it directly out of the pockets of the patients that need it the most? I urge each and every member of this parliament to stand up and vote against this legislation.

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