STATEMENTS BY MEMBERS

Mr TAYLOR (Hume—Leader of the Opposition) (13:58): On the one hand, Labor hands out welfare and home deposits to non-citizens. On the other hand, Labor is cutting the private health insurance rebate to older Australians. What a disgrace!

The rebate is an important discount that reduces costs for older Australians. These are older Australians who will have to pay higher premiums because they want to be able to get access to a knee replacement or cataract surgery, or to see a heart specialist, in a timely way. But Labor doesn't give a damn about older Australians—Australians who have worked hard, paid their taxes all their lives, raised families and helped to build this great country.

Well, with Labor's policies, millions of Australians will pay more for private health insurance—millions. According to new research, some 40 per cent of Australians over the age of 65 will drop their private health cover altogether. And where will they go?

Into the public system. That will mean more queues and more ambulance ramping, and, of course, more state taxes and more state debt as a result of this, and more pressure on stressed public hospitals. The modern Labor Party is misguided and mean-spirited.