Sue Boyce (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I cannot imagine that the cap that is being proposed is going to assist people to come into the area. Catholic Health Australia and dozens of other witnesses have already said that, if you means-test it, you will limit the number of people who use it. It is pretty clear that controlling and limiting the size of the private health insurance system is a reason for the actions of the government.

I am pleased that we are back to having 10 million Australians on private health insurance. That industry often promotes healthy lifestyles—it offers such things as discounts on gym membership and the like—but, as I said before, these sorts of basic, intelligent, practical measures do not suit this government. It wants to spend millions of dollars on building bureaucracy and collecting and reviewing data rather than on undertaking the education of Australians.