Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Mackellar, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is addressed to the Minister for Health and Ageing. Is it the government’s view that the privatisation of Medibank Private will produce benefits for policy holders? Is the minister aware of claims to the contrary, and what is the government’s response?

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

I do thank the member for Mackellar for her question. Members opposite keep saying that this is one of the most important issues facing our country, so it is important to make the government’s position absolutely crystal clear. So that no-one is under any doubt, let me make it clear to members opposite that this government believes very strongly that the best guarantee of good products and fair prices is competition, not government ownership. That is what we believe.

Brendan O'Connor (Gorton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Brendan O’Connor interjecting

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Gorton is warned!

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

That is what Frances Sullivan of Catholic Health believes when he says that Medibank Private should not stay in government ownership, that is what Mark Fitzgibbon of the NIB health fund believes when he says that privatisation will lower premium pressure, that is what Professor Henry Ergas believes when he says that privatisation could reduce premium pressure by up to six per cent and, in their hearts, that is what members opposite believe. If it were otherwise, why did the former Labor government privatise the Commonwealth Bank and Qantas?

Over the last two days a succession of Labor members have come into this parliament, led by the Leader of the Opposition and the member for Lalor, claiming that the privatisation of Medibank Private means that shareholders win and policyholders lose. What an implicit smear this is, what a shocking smear this is, on every private business in this country. If what members opposite say is true, why did the Kirner Labor government privatise the State Insurance Office in Victoria? I am not surprised that the member for Fremantle—she is in the House; welcome back—did not enter this debate, because when she was the Premier of Western Australia she passed legislation providing for the privatisation—

Kate Ellis (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Ms Kate Ellis interjecting

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Adelaide is warned!

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

of the State Insurance Office. On this issue Labor members are total hypocrites. Almost everything that Labor members have said about the privatisation of Medibank Private is a lie and they know it. When the Leader of the Opposition was in government he supported privatisation. He had the courage of Bob Hawke’s convictions, he had the courage of Paul Keating’s convictions, but it seems he has no convictions of his own. That is the problem with the Leader of the Opposition. We know what he is against—he is against everything which is potentially unpopular—but we do not know what he is for, and that is why he should never become the Prime Minister of this country.