Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade and International Security) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I refer to the Senate’s passage of legislation today which will allow the Howard government to sell off Medibank Private. Why is the government prepared to rush this legislation through but fails to act on the long-term problems identified in the The blame game report? Why doesn’t the government instead start to fix this critical area of the federation that demands fundamental reform?

John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Let me say a couple of things about the sale of Medibank Private. It has been an enunciated and longstanding policy of the government and it is appropriate that the legislation go through. The government has explained its reasons. We believe that it will contribute to the strengthening of private health insurance. We believe in more competition. We believe in private health insurance. The Labor Party believes in neither.

In relation to The blame game report, in a federation where areas of responsibility are divided between the Commonwealth and state, the Commonwealth should properly fund its responsibilities and the states should properly fund their responsibilities and the two levels of government should cooperate in areas where joint service delivery is required. If you look at the policy and practice of this government, you see that that is what has occurred. Moreover, we have endowed the states, through the GST, with unprecedented levels of revenue for them to spend according to their own discretionary judgement. The Leader of the Opposition talks about cooperative federalism. I am informed by the Chair of the Standing Committee on Health and Ageing, the member for Fairfax, that the Queensland government refused to cooperate in the compilation of that report.