Craig Kelly (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

This pattern of repeated misleading conduct not only has destroyed the Prime Minister's credibility but is weakening our entire democracy. What person is ever going to believe another word that this Labor government says. If they told you it was raining outside, you would need to go outside and check for yourself. If this bill is passed, as we go into the next election—based on this government's track record—any commitment, any promise, is not going to be worth the paper it is written on.

I say to the Independents: there is a heavy responsibility upon you when it comes to voting for this legislation. In years past, the Independents have justified their place in this parliament by sitting here under the motto of 'keeping the bastards honest'. But if the Independents vote with Labor on this bill, they will have simply aided and abetted this government's dishonesty.

This bill has nothing to do with attempting to improve health insurance. It has nothing to do with creating more hospital beds. It has nothing to do with improving health services. It is all about a short-term revenue grab—a desperate attempt to cook the books to show a wafer-thin surplus in the next financial year. This is despite having run up the four largest budget deficits in Australian history—a combined total of $167 billion. The so-called saving from this bill of $2.8 billion is a further cooking of the books for it does not take into account the $3.8 billion in additional costs that will be generated down the line and generated on state budgets. Make no mistake, this government's inability to manage a budget is the only reason we are debating this bill here today, and today, as every day, they are showing how little they care for the challenging costs of living faced by people in Sydney and the rest of our other major cities and country areas.

If this bill passes parliament, it will start off a vicious circle which will ultimately punish working families. Firstly, with so many cost-of-living pressures being inflicted by this government—electricity prices, childcare costs and the spectre of the carbon tax predicted to fall on the economy like a sledgehammer—removing this rebate will simply see people either downgrade their existing private health insurance or drop it altogether, thereby pushing more people into the public health system. A Deloitte analysis has shown that in the first year 175,000 people would withdraw from private health insurance cover and a further 583,000 people would downgrade their coverage. The answer is obvious to reasonable Australians: by driving people away from private health insurance, the cost of premiums for those that remain in the system will be forced up. The Deloitte analysis predicts a 10 per cent rise in premiums above what they would otherwise be. With fewer people paying for private health insurance, existing premiums will continue to increase, thereby setting off another round of people either downgrading their private health insurance or dropping it altogether—again, pushing another lot of people away from the private system and into the public health system.

The report goes on to estimate that, over five years, 1.6 million Australians will drop their cover and a further 4.3 million will downgrade it. Ultimately, the people who will be most hurt by this bill are the Australians earning less than $50,000 that make up 50 per cent of Australians with health insurance. It will lengthen hospital queues. It will cause pain, suffering and hardship. Millions of Australian families that are doing their bit for the economy, even though they are already struggling with cost of living pressures, will be hurt by this bill. No wonder there are no government members left on the other side to defend this broken promise which will penalise Australian families at the time when they can least afford it.

In my seat of Hughes there are 91,000 people that rely on their private health insurance cover, and many of these 91,000 people will be forced to fork out an additional $935 a year. That has been made clear by the recent Deloitte report. This bill—the so-called Fairer Private Health Insurance Incentives Bill—and its associated bills will rip support from families doing the right thing by our public health system. The millions of Australian families that will be hurt by this bill are doing their bit for the country, even though they are already struggling with cost-of-living pressures—and this will only be made worse by the carbon tax. We are again seeing Labor driving the dagger of cost of living into the heart of middle-class working families. Shame on this government for introducing this bill, and shame on every Labor member who votes for it. I call on the Independents to live up to the motto 'keep the bastards honest' and vote against this bill.

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