QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Senator RUSTON (South Australia—Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) (14:56): Minister, four months before this policy was announced, the Minister for Health, Disability and Ageing wrote to the Deafness Forum Australia and pointed elderly Australians towards this very rebate as the way to fund cochlear implant replacements. Was the minister aware the rebate was going to be cut when he gave that advice to older Australians needing deaf support, and, if so, why weren't those pensioners told at the time?