Private Health Insurance Amendment (Modernising the Private Health Insurance Rebate) Bill 2026

Mr McCORMACK (Riverina) (13:21): It is interesting that I am rising to speak on the Private Health Insurance Amendment (Modernising the Private Health Insurance Rebate) Bill 2026 with the shadow minister and the minister for regional health in the chamber at the table. Those two, the member for Mallee and the member for Dobell, respectively, have a big duty of care, and that duty of care is to regional Australians, who need better health services.

I certainly know that both are hard-working. They are. I've had dealings with both in the realm of making sure that regional people get looked after.

But, with all due respect to the minister, who is a good person with a good heart—I do acknowledge that—this Labor government has been neglectful when it comes to regional Australians and, particularly, older regional Australians. As we've just heard, excellently articulated by the member for Monash, regional Australia is doing it very, very tough at the moment.

It has not had any respite, any help, any support from this Albanese government, which, let's not forget, came to office in May 2022 promising not to leave anyone behind. But all that this Labor government has done is leave Australians, and certainly regional Australians, behind. Let us not forget either that it is regional Australians who keep this country running.

It's regional Australians who grow the food. It's regional Australians who produce the fibre. It's regional Australians who have the mining and the resources wealth that we sell overseas—those things which the Treasurer couldn't bring himself to say.

He described coal, iron ore and energy as the 'things' we sell overseas. Let me tell you, but for those things that we sell overseas—and you could throw agriculture in as well—this Treasurer and this country would be up to their eyeballs in debt. Hang on—they already are!

They already are up to their eyeballs in debt. In fact, they're over their eyeballs in debt, and it's on Labor's watch. What do we see Labor doing when things get tough, when things go start to go awry?

They start to punish those people who are keeping the lights on, those people who have done the hard yards for and on behalf of this nation. Particularly when it comes to this bill, I refer to those over-65s. Many of those people have actually put on a service uniform.

Many of them have rolled their sleeves up and gotten dirt under their fingernails to help build this nation, to help make Australia what it is today. We do live in the best country on earth. Make no mistake, we do.

That's on the back of the hard work, dedication and perspiration of so many older Australians. Sixty-five is not the twilight years. Trust me, it's not.

The older I get, the less twilight that becomes! For those older Australians—who are looking towards retirement, who deserve their place in the sun and the breeze at their backs—what are they facing? They're facing a Labor government that wants to take away what they are entitled to, what they should be eligible for and what they certainly have been eligible for for some years past.

By taking away the private health insurance rebate, what we hear and what we see out in regional Australia is that private hospitals are really worried about their modus operandi and really worried about their bottom lines. We've heard from many experts in the field that they are worried about whether they'll be able to keep the doors of their hospitals open because of this stupid, senseless policy.

I really don't understand it. When Labor is putting together the budget—I appreciate that budgets start getting prepared around January, February. These bright sparks from the bureaucracy and elsewhere think up these schemes, these ideas, about how we're going to save money so that we can continue our climate folly and how we're going to save money so that we can continue having the Minister for Climate Change and Energy as the President of COP and other things.

Where are we going to get the money from? They look at the wrong areas. We've seen in recent weeks, certainly in this parliament, our veterans pushing back against the insidious $5,000 allied health cap that has been placed on their duty, service and sacrifice.

And we see that with this policy. It's just penny pinching. It's stingy.

It's miserable. It's Labor. It's lazy politics.

It's lazy Labor politics. I am sorry for the tautology. For lazy Labor politics, I should probably just should say 'Labor politics' or 'lazy politics' because they're all one and the same.

I note too that, with the speakers list for this particular amendment bill, there are not too many regional members here. Perhaps he might have spoken already or perhaps he might be on the speakers list later, but where is the Minister for Aged Care and Seniors, the member for Hawke, in all of this? He has overseen the home-care packages queue stretch out as far as the eye can see, and, sadly, tragically, people are dying while waiting to get those packages.

That simply isn't right. It's simply not fair. It's simply un-Australian, and it has to stop.

Our older Australians deserve better. Our older Australians shouldn't be used as a punching bag for this Labor government, which can't seem to balance the books. This Labor government can't seem to manage the finances of the nation.

When you look at the finances of this nation, you see that iron ore and coal—the things we sell overseas, according to the Treasurer—are priced pretty well at the moment. On the East Coast, we've got a pretty good harvest coming up. I was in Western Australia last week, and the same goes for there.

Dr Webster: And Mallee. Mr McCORMACK: In Mallee, the Riverina, Nichols and those areas of Farrer, the crops are good. The canola is great.

Despite the vagaries of weather, the hard work they do and the risks they take, our farmers are looking at a pretty good summer cropping season. Never mind the water buybacks. That should stop too.

There's always money for water buybacks! There's always $430 million and the equivalent of 34,400 swimming pools worth of water taken out of farming production. But, anyway, we'll have more to say about that later on.

When you have a bill such as this, which comes before the parliament and wants to stingily squeeze just a little bit more out of those over-65s, it just makes no sense. You have to ask yourself why. Why is this so?

Why are our over-65s once again on the chopping block for lazy Labor politics? I'll tell you why. It's because Labor can't manage the economy, Labor can't manage health.

And Labor can't manage a system by which older Australians can get ahead. The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Ms Claydon ): The debate is interrupted in accordance with standing order 43. The debate may be resumed at a later hour, and the member will be given leave to continue speaking when the debate is resumed.