Linda Reynolds (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Minister, again I applaud your ability to filibuster. I was just waiting for a definition of 'filibuster' to come into your filibustering. That's all that would have been needed. Minister, this is not a question that is inappropriate for this debate on this bill tonight. This bill, as the budget papers say, is all about realising savings to the scheme by moderating growth—yes—and by cutting money out of this bill.

There is a record number of people currently waiting in the queue. We were told last time that there were over 50,000; the question is appropriate. This government has deliberately slowed down the processing of those plans until after this legislation so that you can cut the plans and not increase the intraplan inflation so you could make the $4.5 billion of savings. That is very clear to the people who are currently desperately waiting for a review of their plan because the cost of living and the cost of services have gone up so much.

Minister, the first question is: how many are in the queue? The officials next to you absolutely have that number in hand; they have used it before. The second question is: how many people are waiting—again, in a different queue—for access to the scheme and then waiting to have their plans approved? It is very clear to us and, I am sure, to the Greens that, again, the government has been artificially turning the tap down to try and desperately moderate, unsuccessfully.

At the moment, we've got two lots of participants who have told us they are desperate. There are those who have no money left in their plan, for a variety of reasons, and can no longer get services. There are around 50,000 of them. What will happen to them, and how many of them are there? The second question is: how many people have put applications in and currently have plans waiting? That information used to be provided. It used to be available. But for some reason now it is unavailable, again, like every other bit of information, including the sustainability framework and actuarial data—data that underpins these budget savings and this bill itself. Those are two very basic questions. By my calculation, there are around 100,000 people desperate to know what their fate will be if your legislation gets through. How many are waiting in both of those queues?