Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, on indulgence, may I just commend the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition on their presentations here this morning in acknowledging this important anniversary of the 1967 referendum. As the member for Cook, I acknowledge the Dharawal people in Sydney and, in particular, the Gweagal people, who were the first present when Lieutenant James Cook arrived in Australia on 29 April 1770. It has certainly been a long time since then and I think the presentations made today in this House have reflected well the views of the Australian people.

In particular, I want to acknowledge the Clontarf Foundation, which does such tremendous work in my own community and right around the country, and continues—I think very much in the spirit of the contributions that were made by the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition this morning—answering that appeal.

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

This bill, that is, the Treasury Laws Amendment (Medicare Levy and Medicare Levy Surcharge) Bill 2017, provides certainty that low-income earners will continue to receive relief from the Medicare levy through the low-income thresholds for singles, families, seniors and pensioners.

Australians place great faith in a government's range of essential services.

Our essential services give Australians the security and confidence they need to seize opportunities when they arise—to understand that the Commonwealth government has their backs when it comes to important essential services that they rely on.

In this year's budget the government is protecting the essential services that Australians rely on, especially our most vulnerable Australians. We are fully funding those services.

We are guaranteeing Medicare so that all Australians can be assured Medicare is not only here to stay, but will be strengthened into the future.

By law, as I announced on budget night, we will establish a Medicare Guarantee Fund from 1 July this year to pay for all expenses on the Medicare Benefits Schedule and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. Proceeds from the Medicare Levy will be paid into that fund.

An additional contribution from income tax revenue will also be paid into the fund to make up the difference. This will provide transparency about the costs of Medicare and a clear guarantee on how we pay for it.

We are also closing the funding gap, once and for all, for our National Disability Insurance Scheme.

The Turnbull government will fully fund the National Disability Insurance Scheme by increasing the Medicare levy by half a percentage point from 1 July 2019.

Every single cent of the additional money raised from the increase in the Medicare levy will go to fully funding the National Disability Insurance Scheme and provide all of those families, all of those Australians, all of their friends, all of their carers and all of their communities right around the country the assurance—the guarantee—that the National Disability Insurance Scheme is fully funded, once and for all.

We are facing a $55.7 billion gap in the funding of the National Disability Insurance Scheme over the medium term, and that hole needs to be filled. The increase in the levy that we are putting forward two years from now does not occur until the extra national disability insurance bills start coming in in 2019-20. The levy does not increase until the extra bills start coming in.

We all have a responsibility to do our bit when it comes to fully funding the National Disability Insurance Scheme, according to our means. If you are on a higher income, under the Turnbull government's plan you will pay more. If you are on a lower income, you will pay less.

Someone earning $80,000 a year currently pays $1,699 a year in the Medicare levy. From 1 July 2019 their contribution will increase by $400 a year—around just over a dollar a day to ensure the Commonwealth's share of the National Disability Insurance Scheme is fully funded.

Those on higher incomes will pay more. Someone who is on $250,000 a year pays $4,800 in the Medicare levy each year, and they will contribute an extra $1200 a year to secure funding of the NDIS—some three times what those on the lower income I have just mentioned would pay.

Appropriately, those on lower incomes will pay even less. A single mother on $37,000 a year pays no Medicare levy at all and a pensioner on $34,000 pays no Medicare levy. This is fair. These have been the arrangements for some time, with indexation. And the government is ensuring that this fairness remains central to the Medicare levy.

But all of us will share in the responsibility of helping our mates who are living with a disability and giving an assurance to them that this vital service in the National Disability Insurance Scheme will be there for them into the future—and not just for them but, through any great misfortune in the future, for those Australians who will be forced to live with a disability; they will have the support and certainty of that scheme as well.

So I do implore the opposition to come to the middle when it comes to supporting the government to fully fund the National Disability Insurance Scheme. There is no need to increase the Medicare levy for any other purpose than to fully fund the National Disability Insurance Scheme. We are aware that the opposition is proposing to increase the Medicare levy, but, as their shadow Treasurer and their assistant minister have confirmed, that increase in the Medicare levy is not to fund the National Disability Insurance Scheme. Not one cent of the proposed increase in the Medicare levy by the opposition is intended to support funding the National Disability Insurance Scheme. Their purposes in raising that levy are unclear. Our purpose is very clear. It has only one purpose—that is, to give families dealing with disabilities and their carers and all others—

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