Luke Simpkins (Cowan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. Will the Treasurer outline to the House the economic importance of the successful float of Medibank Private that occurred at midday today?

Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for Cowan for his question. I note today we took another step forward on delivering our economic action strategy for a stronger and more prosperous Australia. The Medibank Private float is the third biggest initial public offer share listing in the world this year—and we have delivered it in Australia. It is a core policy principle of the coalition that we as a government should stick to our knitting—that we should be focused on delivering essential services for the community and that, when the government owns a business, that business should be set free to compete in the marketplace.

Medibank Private competes with over 34 other funds in private health insurance. It has been a longstanding policy of the coalition that this is not a business that government should be involved with. Let us remember that, every year under Labor, they would dig deep into Medibank Private and raid the assets of Medibank Private to try and fatten up their budget. They did it each year in a more desperate plea to try and deliver the surplus that they actually never delivered. Our view has been that this entity should be able to properly serve the best interests of its 1.2 million policyholders. It should properly serve the interests of the Australian people by focusing on the job that it must do, especially in competition with 34 other players.

At 12 o'clock today 400,000 Australians became direct shareholders in Medibank Private. They received, on the listing price, a 10 per cent benefit for backing Medibank Private. That is a reward for their enterprise in investing in the initial public offer. Indeed, millions of other Australians have become instant shareholders in Medibank Private through their superannuation and, in particular, through self-managed superannuation. This is what we are about: fixing the budget, fixing the economy and strengthening the enterprise of the Australian people.

What is particularly pleasing is that every dollar that is raised by the government in the sale of Medibank Private today is going to go back into new productive infrastructure in the Australian community. So when Mike Baird announces new harbour crossings in Sydney, that is helped to be funded by the Medibank Private sale today, because we are recycling asset values. The sad thing is the Labor Party are opposing all this. They are opposing everything we are doing to try and strengthen the Australian economy. They are opposing the privatisation of Medibank Private. My colleague, Senator Mathias Cormann, has done an outstanding job on this, ably supported by the people of Australia.