Rowan Holzberger (Forde, Australian Labor Party) | Hansard source

I rise to support the Health Legislation Amendment (Improving Choice and Transparency for Private Health Consumers) Bill 2026. I particularly want to congratulate the Minister for Health and Ageing for the work that he has done on this bill but also for the work that he has done leading the health strategy, along with the economic team led by the Treasurer and the government led by the Prime Minister. Health is very much at the heart of the Labor story. It's very much at the heart of what I want to do in my community, as it is for so many people in this place—that is, to listen to our community, to fight for our community and to deliver for our community. I think health care is the best received work the Labor Party does.

There are two elements to this bill—but I don't think I've got the full 15 minutes. I particularly wanted to focus on insurance and talk a little bit generally about what I think insurance is really there for. It could be because of the German last name that I have, Holzberger, that I'll always have a bit of an interest in German history. German history and the history of insurance are very much intertwined. In fact, there are two really great insurance markets in the world. In Germany, there are the great reinsurers of Hannover Re and of Munich Re. There's also the market of Lloyd's—Lloyd's of London. Those two markets tell a fascinating story of the history of what insurance is.

Ultimately, in Germany, sometime around the 1400s—or whenever it was—farmers decided to collectivise their risk.

See this speech in context