Steve Fielding (Victoria, Family First Party) Share this | Hansard source

As co-sponsor of the Health Insurance (General Medical Services Table) Regulations 2009 disallowance motion, I thought I would make sure I spoke. If this disallowance motion does not go through, you will find some ordinary Australians out of pocket 300 bucks. This government have taken not only the Australia public for granted on this issue but, quite clearly, the Senate for granted on this issue. They have taken them for granted. They have been mischievous at best in trying to manoeuvre a way around to not allow this disallowance motion to have effect. They have to come to the reality that this is a concern for the Australian public and they have to make sure that they sit down with various people to get to a common-sense arrangement rather than saying: ‘Stuff you all. We’re going to put this thing through and the only people this is going to hurt are the Australian public and they are going to be out of pocket 300 bucks.’ It is the wrong way of doing it.

They have taken the Australian public for granted and they have tried to take the Senate for granted, and it clearly has not worked. They cannot see through their own spin that quite clearly this is going to hurt those Australians who want to have the operation done and, if this disallowance does not go through, all that is going to happen is that people are going to be charged more for the surgery. They will be out of pocket. If they think that overcharging is going on, they need to find another way of addressing it, rather than making sure that the Australian public end up paying more.

Cataract surgery is the most common surgical procedure performed on older Australians and it is seen as a vital element in preventing falls, fractures and loss of mobility in the elderly. Do not take the elderly for granted. They value their health and they value the insurance that gives them peace of mind. The government are at a stage where they are undermining people’s trust in them with regard to health. This is another issue that the government have taken for granted, and this disallowance motion is very important in getting them to go back and look at other ways to address the problem as they see it.

Do not pass the problem on to those vulnerable people who will be charged more for cataract surgery if this disallowance motion does not get through. I make it clear that the government have to go back and do some work. They should stop trying to do nothing—believing in their own spin, not seeing through it—and do something that will actually address the problem, rather than just passing it on to the Australian public and saying they are doing something. That is wrong. I encourage all members of this chamber to support the disallowance motion.