Slade Brockman (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on the Private Health Insurance Legislation Amendment Bill 2018, A New Tax System (Medicare Levy Surcharge—Fringe Benefits) Amendment (Excess Levels for Private Health Insurance Policies) Bill 2018 and the Medicare Levy Amendment (Excess Levels for Private Health Insurance Policies) Bill 2018.

I will just begin by pointing out that those on this side of the chamber believe in a government-funded system. Obviously, Medicare and the public hospital system provide an excellent level of service to all Australians on a universal basis. There is no means testing and there is no restricted access. But we also believe in a strong private health insurance system. This balance is something that has been difficult to achieve in a public policy sense, but it is something that I think has, over a long period of time—and with the occasional and half-hearted support of those directly opposite—served Australia very well.

The balance between a public and a private health system has given people options and choices. It means that in many categories of health care people haven't had to be placed on waiting lists, which in the end are the inevitable result if we go down the way of a purely public model, where the only way of controlling healthcare costs is rationing. We've seen that all around the world.