Concetta Fierravanti-Wells (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Ageing) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Private Health Insurance Amendment (Lifetime Health Cover Loading and Other Measures) Bill 2012 and the Private Health Insurance Legislation Amendment (Base Premium) Bill 2013. It is interesting that both Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard, as well as other Labor members, over many years have repeatedly ruled out any changes to the private health insurance rebates. Through means testing changes and announcements since, Labor has repeatedly broken its promise on private health insurance. It is important that I remind honourable senators of some of those comments that have been made. I take you back to Julia Gillard, then shadow minister for health. In a letter to the editor of the Hobart Mercury on 2 September 2004 she said:

I grow tired of saying this—Labor is committed to the 30 per cent private health insurance rebate.

Again, in a letter to the editor of the Courier-Mail on 23 September 2004, Julia Gillard reiterated and countered assertions that Labor would erode or abolish the 30 per cent government rebate, saying:

Labor is committed to the maintenance of this rebate and I have given an iron-clad guarantee on that on a number of occasions.

Then, again, on 15 October 2005, to the Weekend Australian, there was another reiteration. She said:

The truth is that I never had a secret plan to scrap the private health insurance rebate …

Well, history shows what an untruthful woman Julia Gillard will go down in history as. And then of course there is Nicola Roxon—