Scott Buchholz (Wright, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The coalition strongly opposes Labor's decision to impose a $5,000 annual cap on allied health services for our veterans. This is a cost-cutting measure that unfairly targets the men and the women that have served our great nation. Veterans rely on allied health services. That's not a luxury but an essential part of managing service related injuries, mental health and other conditions. Many veterans live with complex and chronic conditions that have resulted from their services to this great country. For those veterans, a $5,000 cap will simply not cover the care they require throughout the year. The consequences are very clear. Veterans will be forced to go without treatment, their conditions may worsen and families will be left to carry the financial and emotional burden.

Australia's obligation to our veterans does not end when they take their uniforms off. Veterans deserve certainty, to know that the care and support they need will always be there. Measures like this undermine trust and send the wrong messages to current serving personnel and young Australians considering a career in the ADF. Veterans should never be treated as a line item of Labor's budget repair. I'm calling on the Albanese government to immediately reverse this decision and reinstate full support for our veterans.

Labor's also slashing seniors' private health rebates. Many older Australians in our community are already under pressure from rising living costs. Healthcare costs are not something seniors should have to worry about on top of everything else. Affordable and reliable health care should be something Australians can count on, especially later in their life when they need it the most. Labor's proposed changes to private health insurance rebates for Australians over 65 will simply make cover more expensive for many seniors in the country. More than 1.4 million Australians could be hit with a premium increase of up to $640 a year. At a time when households are already tightening their belts, this is the wrong priority.

The coalition introduced higher private health insurance rebates for over-65s because we understood older Australians rely more heavily on healthcare services, and they deserve the additional support. These rebates help seniors maintain private cover and reduce the pressure on the public health system. If private health insurance becomes unaffordable, many people will be forced to downgrade or cancel their cover altogether. That would place even greater strain on already stretched public hospitals and emergency departments. I want to make my position very, very clear. I'll fight these changes every step of the way.