Richard Di Natale (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Finance, Senator Cormann. Senator, you have announced that Medibank Private, which has been in government hands since it was founded in 1976, will be sold off. At the same time, the government has been on the public record falsely claiming that health spending is unsustainable. Rather than making it more expensive for Australians to see a doctor, will you instead commit to reinvesting every cent from the sale of Medibank Private into Australia's health system and rule out a $6 GP co-payment?

Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Di Natale for that question. He is quite right: the government announced yesterday that, after careful consideration of the scoping study into the sale of Medibank Private, we have decided to proceed, subject to market conditions, with that sale in 2014-15. What we will do with the capital release from that sale, as we have said for some time now, is reinvest it into productivity-enhancing infrastructure. The Treasurer, Mr Hockey, will have some more to say about that in the context of the budget.

Let me just make some more general observations, though. The reason the government is proceeding with this sale is very simple: there is no good public policy reason for the Commonwealth to own a private health fund. Medibank Private operates as a commercial business in a well-functioning, well-regulated, competitive market with 34 health funds. There is no market failure. There is no reason for the government to continue to own a health fund.

Beyond that, there have been some assertions made by Labor and others that somehow this will push up the cost of premiums. Let me say very clearly that it will not because, after any sale, Medibank will still have to compete with other health funds for their customers. They will still be subject to the regulation that is currently in place in relation to the setting of premiums. Furthermore, there have been some strange assertions from the shadow minister for health in particular and the shadow minister for finance suggesting that somehow a sale will reduce the variety of funds in the market and reduce competition. It will actually not do that. We currently have 34 funds. After we sell Medibank Private, we will still have 34 funds and we will have one fund that will be free from the shackles of government ownership which will be able to pursue opportunities— (Time expired)

Richard Di Natale (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. The government has suggested there is a bigger role for private health insurance in general practice. Medibank Private are now doing deals with some GP clinics to ensure that GPs offer preferential treatment to their members over other patients. Does the government support these deals between Medibank Private and GPs which have the benefit of inflating the share price but will cause premiums to skyrocket and leave uninsured people struggling to get an appointment with their GP?

Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I do not agree with Senator Di Natale's analysis of what is happening there. I will make a more fundamental point, though. The issue that Senator Di Natale is trying to address really points to the conflict that the government is in when we are both the regulator of the private health insurance market on one side and one of the largest market participants on the other. It will be much better for Medibank Private as a commercial business to be able to make these judgements commercially outside the government sector than as a government business enterprise. That is one of a number of reasons why we are progressing the sale, which I announced yesterday.

Richard Di Natale (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. Minister, will you tell the Australian people which other public assets are now on the auction block? Specifically, will you rule out the privatisation of Australia Post, HECS debt and the National Disability Insurance Scheme?

Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The government has a policy to sell Medibank Private. We have progressed that sale carefully and methodically. After the scoping study that went from November last year to the end of February this year, we carefully considered the findings of that scoping study. There is no policy to sell any other Commonwealth owned assets at this point in time. If at any point in time that should change, we will make the relevant announcement at that time.