My question is to the minister representing the minister for health, Minister McAllister. My home state of Tasmania has the oldest population in Australia, the highest rates of chronic illness and among the longest public hospital wait times in the country. Your plan to axe an additional private health insurance rebate for over 65s is a direct hit on more than 71,000 Tasmanians aged 65 and over who hold private health insurance—more than half of the seniors in my home state. St Lukes told a Senate inquiry that about a third of its members aged over 65 live on less than $30,000 a year, while a further 45 per cent live on between $30,000 and $55,000. Case studies in their submission show members paying between $3,200 and $6½ thousand dollars a year in premiums, with one member's premium representing more than 22 per cent of her annual income. Why does this government continue to insist that older Tasmanians on fixed incomes foot the bill for the government's budget mismanagement?

Our priority, as I indicated in response to a very similar question last week, is to make sure that taxpayer dollars are being spent to deliver the greatest benefit for older Australians. That does mean directing more funding into the care that people are relying on every day. In the budget in May, our government delivered $3 billion for more beds, for more aged-care packages, for better care. To help fund those investments in aged care, the government will return the private health insurance rebate for older Australians to the same rate that is available to other Australians on similar incomes. We do understand that that is a challenging decision. It's a challenging decision for government, but it is challenging for those people. It is challenging for older Australians, but there is a great deal to do to repair the aged-care system from the neglect that occurred under the Liberal coalition government over the last decade.

You messed it up, not us.

Order! I have called order a number of times on my left. I don't want to go through the usual procedure of calling you individually. If I've called order, it means you. I shouldn't have to say, 'Senator Ruston, come to order'.

There is a great deal to do to repair the aged-care system. In fact, there is a decade's worth of work to do, because, during the last government, the aged-care system was characterised by neglect. They're not my words; they are the words of the royal commission into these same matters. You would think that the coalition had learned from that period—but no. At the last election you might have thought that the coalition would go to the people with a whole suite of aged-care policies, but they didn't. In fact, there was not one single costed aged-care policy from the coalition at the last election. That is incredible. It is hard to believe that coalition senators are willing to come in here and ask questions about the wellbeing of older Australians under those circumstances.

Senator Gatenby, first supplementary?

Minister, St Lukes told a Senate inquiry that if members downgrade their top-tier cover to silver, 25 per cent of claims—mainly joints and cataracts—will shift onto the public system. They warn that Tasmanians relying on the public system already wait 281 days for a knee replacement and 100 days for cataracts. Will your government guarantee the wait in the public system won't get any worse under this tax on seniors?

Senators will be aware of the very significant investments this government is making in public hospitals. Senators will be aware, in fact, that $25 billion in additional funding was made available to the states and territories as part of the last agreement—significantly more than was added to that agreement when the coalition last negotiated an agreement of this kind. We believe in public health. We believe in Medicare—something those opposite have never, ever supported. That's why we're making an $8½ billion investment in Medicare. It's why we're making medicines cheaper. It's why we're making record investments in public hospitals. It's why we're doing everything we can to support the health of Australians, including older Australians in Tasmania.

Senator Gatenby, second supplementary.

Minister, Catholic Health Australia told that Senate committee that Tasmania's only private rehabilitation unit in Hobart and it's only private mental health facility in the state's north are now at risk. We know from experience that when a service becomes unviable in Tasmania it isn't taken over by a competitor; it's lost, just as the Hobart private maternity unit closed in 2025. Will the government guarantee that no more private hospital services will close in Tasmania as a result of this policy?

This government has taken a very close interest in the viability of private hospitals, at the same time as we are making significant investments in public health. Those latter investments are not confined to the public hospital system, although those are very substantial. Our investments extend to Medicare, to cheaper medicines and to investments in workforce, because we want a health system—public and private—that works for all Australians, and we are making very significant investments to ensure that that's the case.

It's a very different approach than the approach taken by those opposite when they were last in office. They ripped billions of dollars out of public health. They ripped billions of dollars out of aged care. The consequence was an aged-care system that was in crisis and bulk-billing that was in freefall. Australians understand that only Labor will ever take the health interests of Australians seriously, and those opposite might do well to reflect on what work needs to be done to restore their credibility for the Australian public. (Time expired)