Santo Santoro (Queensland, Liberal Party, Minister for Ageing) Share this | Hansard source

Thanks to those senators who have spoken to this bill this evening—or one senator. I am not sure that I quite got the gist of her remarks, which are based obviously on the politics of class envy, but nevertheless I suppose we live in a democracy and in a country where opinions, even those as extreme as those expressed by the Greens in this place, are at least listened to and tolerated in the interests of democracy. Certainly the politics of class envy are well and truly alive in this chamber tonight.

I want to speak briefly on this bill. It needs to be restated that the bill does enhance consumer rights, and that is what this bill is all about. It enables the Ombudsman to inquire into the whole privately insured experience, not just the actions of health funds. The Ombudsman will have the power to mediate and resolve consumer complaints about the services of practitioners, hospitals and brokers, and that clearly is the main focus. We are certainly not winding back the role of the Ombudsman; we are expanding it. Consumers will benefit, and the discipline that scrutiny imposes on those who benefit financially from private health insurance will improve the quality of services received.

In the second reading amendment the opposition talked about concerns for members of Medibank Private in relation to the impending sale. I ask the question: are they against breathing new life into a health fund whose ability to operate is shackled by the stifling restrictions of government ownership? Are they saying that a government owned Medibank Private will always be able to make decisions that put customers first and not be a policy plaything of the government of the day? Are they saying that they have discovered a sudden concern for the three million or so members of Medibank Private when Labor would happily dud those members by abolishing the private health insurance rebate and destroy private health, not just the private health insurance as we know it? I suggest that they try telling that to the thousands of Medibank Private members who earn less than $20,000 a year but who do provide for their private health cover in order to have the choice that would be denied by senators opposite. I repeat: thousands of Medibank Private members who earn less than $20,000 a year choose to take out private health insurance in order to enhance their choice. In the interests of brevity and in the interests of time I am more than happy to restrict my comments to those that I have just made. I again stress that this is a bill about enhancing consumer rights and I am very pleased to suggest that it be supported by everybody in this place.

Question negatived.

Original question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.

Debate interrupted.