Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Health Administration) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister for Human Services (Senator Ludwig) to questions without notice asked by senators Cormann and Boyce today relating to private health insurance.

Australians have been deceived by this government; they have been conned. The 11 million Australians who take additional responsibility for their healthcare needs by taking out private cover have been conned. And I say to those 11 million Australians: you cannot believe a word this government say when they make public policy commitments on private health insurance.

Today we heard Senator Ludwig’s answers, and it was very clear that he had no idea whatsoever as to what the impact of his government’s policy would be on the 11 million Australians taking additional responsibility for their own healthcare needs. He tried to use a figure of 25,000 Australians, and was sneering at me for asking a supplementary question. He said: ‘You didn’t listen to the answer; you just read your supplementary.’ And all he did was read out a pre-prepared question time brief without having any idea what he was advising the Senate about. There are 1.8 million Australians who will face automatic increases in the cost of their private health insurance premiums.