I congratulate the member for Forrest for such an articulate defence of our position. I'm assuming it is the case for every MP on both sides of this House—it's certainly the case for me—that this has really been the No. 1 issue that's been brought to my attention since the budget was dropped and since the Minister for Health and Ageing announced this in the lead-up to the budget. Wherever I go—whether it's a doorknocking expedition, whether it's a coffee catch-up that I host in any corner of my electorate, whether it's emails I'm receiving or phone calls into the office—by every measure, the No. 1 issue that people are raising with me is concern about the government's cuts to the private health insurance rebate.

Building off the contribution of the member for Forrest, I make the point that the people who are reaching out to me are not the one per cent. These aren't the people who will be able to just swallow an increase in their insurance premiums without too much of a hassle. For these individuals, this isn't a luxury; this is something they've paid into for decades. They've sacrificed. They've made real sacrifices in their budget for, in some instances, decades to try to ensure, firstly, that they are not a burden on the public health system and, secondly, that they're able to get that level of care that they need. Now Labor wants them to pay more.

I'll share a story. I hope I don't steal his thunder! The member for Fisher was speaking to a constituent of his. To illustrate the point that these people aren't the richest citizens within our community, he was speaking to a homeless man within his electorate and trying to support him, and the homeless gentleman asked him what was making news in his world and what the big issues were that people were talking to him about. And he said: 'Private health insurance rebate cuts is the No. 1 issue. It may not affect you.' The member for Fisher started to articulate the position and where we're at with the policy debate. And the homeless man said to him, 'No, I've got private health insurance.' This is a man who doesn't have a home, but he knows the importance that it has for his health. He has sacrificed everything that he has and—I'm sure—made many tough decisions in his financial journey but has kept the private health insurance up to date.

Now we're going to have so many thousands of Australians potentially—we saw the figures, and I'll go to those shortly—who are going to be now facing, in a cost-of-living crisis, even more pressure on them to maintain that cover. Of course, that places more pressure on our public health system at a time when our public health system in many states, including mine in Queensland, is under significant pressure. There's no wonder at all why the state governments are coming out almost as one voice and criticising this change in policy and outlining the impact that it's going to have on their capacity to deliver a robust and needs based public health system.

In the Redlands, in my electorate, there are 23,169 people over the age of 65 with private health insurance. They account for more than 23,000 hospital admissions every year. Every one of those people who keeps their private health cover helps ease pressure on our already stretched health system. I'll point out Redland Hospital in my electorate: it's got ambulance ramping issues. At one stage, in the course of the last state government, it had the worst ambulance ramping statistics across the state. They do not need 23,000 additional hospital admissions every year. They don't even need a tiny fraction of that. They've got their hands full just dealing with the existing caseload.

These cuts come after another round of premium increases and during a cost-of-living crisis that is already stretching the household budgets of those 23,169 Redlanders absolutely to the max. What concerns me most is the message that it sends, and the member for Forrest touched on this. Thousands of Redlanders in my electorate have done the right thing by maintaining their private health insurance and helping to take pressure off public hospitals, and now they're being penalised for it.

I want to read out some of the emails that I've received. These were just the first three that were in my little folder. Stephen from Birkdale wrote to me. He spoke about this policy and this bill. He said:

This is certainly a great concern for all of us aged over 65. We have paid significant amounts for health insurance over many years to cover ourselves and our children's' health during what have generally been our healthiest years. Now, when our health is most at risk and our pension incomes are lower, we are asked to pay more.

The principle of insurance is to smooth out costs, something that our Labor government doesn't seem to understand. As a self funded retiree who worked for over fifty years, raised five children, all of whom are tax payers, with thirteen grandchildren, six of whom are now working and paying taxes, I take umbrage at policies that target Australians who have built our nation to fund those who have not. The world is a changing place but it is hard to accept—

it goes on a tangent here, on an economic argument, but I think it's a strong one, so I'm going to go there—

that aggregate government expenditure as a percentage of GDP has increased from 11% in 1960 to almost 40% today.

The message that Labor is sending to young Australians is that they are better off not saving, not investing, and certainly not taking out health insurance, but rather relying on government handouts.

A very sad state of affairs indeed that does not augur well for the future.

Paul from Alexandra Hills wrote to me and said:

You can add me to the list of residents who are upset, to use a polite word.

I am 74, soon to be 75.

My parents paid into private health insurance, and when I went into work I paid for myself.

I'm now a pensioner … I still pay into private health insurance.

The government has kicked me in the guts, with this insult to older Australians.

I could be insulting, which I won't, but this legislation must be reversed—

or stopped from passing. He said:

The outcome is that we all leave private insurance.

It will send them broke.

And Kevin from Redland Bay wrote to me and said:

I've been in a private health fund all of my working life and because of the latest changes bought in by this … government I'm now forced to give serious consideration to cancelling my cover.

I've already cancelled my extras cover and I still can't afford the monthly cost. I'm 76 and I'm a pensioner so I can't afford to pay $250 a month for health insurance.

Nobody is talking about this anymore!!?

…   …   …

A lot of us are in this situation and just because it's not in the news cycle, it doesn't mean it goes away.

You have to keep fighting this!

Well, that's exactly what I'm going to do—for Kevin, for Paul and for all the Redlanders who've written to me and spoken to me on this issue.