Private Health Insurance Amendment (Modernising the Private Health Insurance Rebate) Bill 2026
Mr LITTLEPROUD (Maranoa) (11:50): This bill, the Private Health Insurance Amendment (Modernising the Private Health Insurance Rebate) Bill 2026, is friendless. If you look at the speaking list since the bill was introduced into this parliament, just 13 of the 94 members of the government have been prepared or had the courage to come forward and try and defend it.
I don't know where the other 81 are hiding, but I think they have the same personal view that we on this side have—that this is one of the most egregious things a government can do to those that have worked so hard for our nation over so many years, that have made and built this country up to what it is today. People have done all the right things. They've saved, they've put into superannuation and they were asked, told and encouraged to get into private health insurance to take that burden off the Australian taxpayer, to give a little bit back to this country and to ensure that there was some support there for those that can't afford any health care whatsoever—and they would get a rebate for doing the right thing by the nation in building this nation, and, in their twilight years, get a little bit back.
For this government to callously take that away from those Australians that have done so much, that have built what we've got, and that they here are distributing out in any way they see fit—we talk about a government that say they're attuned to the cost-of-living pressures. We hear the mantras of cheaper child care, free TAFE and all these types of things. Well, what about those Australians that have retired, made a contribution and weren't getting anything for free?
They were just getting a small rebate. They were just getting a little bit of a thankyou from government to say, 'Thank you for your contribution to our nation in building our nation.' As we all get older, it's inevitable we'll need that help; we'll need that support to get the health care we desire and need. Those Australians were prepared to pay a bit extra for that and take the burden off the taxpayer, to get away from the public system where they could.
To then callously say: 'Sorry, your contribution isn't worth it. Your contribution to this country is now not valued. You can actually now go and pay full freight.
You can actually now go back to the drawing board, and you can pay for health care'—which those on the other side have championed, apparently, for so many years—puts so much more pressure back on the public system. It's not just those that have worked and got money in their pockets; it's the 1.2 million pensioners that also worked hard and didn't get the benefits of superannuation in their early years, and need to get that safety net—that safety net that every Australian has had.
It is the principle that both sides of parliament have protected and advanced. It's those 1.2 million pensioners that have tried to do the right thing and have been scratching it together. They're not going on world trips.
They're not going on cruises around the world. They're living their lives. They're contributing to their community.
They're mostly volunteering and enjoying their twilight years of making a contribution to our country and enjoying a fruitful retirement. They have done something remarkable that shows their values, their belief in our nation. Even though they're on a pension, they're prepared to prioritise not just their health but our nation in taking that burden off our health system where they can.
That's the beautiful thing about our country: we have those men and women that have done so much for our nation that are still prepared to give back just a little bit. And all the government was giving was just a little bit. They're not asking for anything for free.
They weren't asking for a free hit. They were just saying they wanted choice, and they were prepared to actually pay for that choice and to actually sacrifice what was in their wallets to give up not big world trips but an extra coffee or an extra bagel. A couple going down to the local café—they were giving that up.
Understand what this also means for the people that I represent in western Queensland, particularly in outback Queensland. Many of them decide to make this decision, this contribution, because they know they'll have ailments that need to be fixed and they know they can't get that support, that health care, in their local communities. There are 344 rural and remote communities across Australia, many of which I represent, that actually don't have any medical support apart from a pharmacist.
I believe those heroes that wear a white coat and are still there after the doctors have taken their shingles down are our last line of healthcare defence. The last person we've got is the local pharmacist. They choose to pay for health insurance so they have choice.
They invariably have to travel hundreds of kilometres to get medical treatment, and they want to have that choice. They've worked damn hard in feeding and clothing you, putting the food and fibre that we produce in this country on your plate and on your back, and they don't have a lot of choice. But, when they do have that choice, they want to be able to make it, and they're prepared to make that commitment to travel those hundreds—sometimes, like in my case, thousands of kilometres—to get to see the health professionals they want.
They were prepared to pay for health insurance and get a little bit of support back from the government to help pay for it and to have that choice and be able to do it. Now this has been ripped away. You've taken away the choice of people in remote Australia that don't really ask for a lot.
They do a lot for our country but never really ask for a lot. They're not out there whinging. We can't even get free TAFE.
We don't have TAFE out there. We're not asking for cheaper child care, because we can't even get a childcare place. This government spent $4.7 billion on subsidies for child care—let's just go into this—so that someone in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane that's on $300,000 to $500,000 picks up an extra $21,000 in subsidy support, yet we can't even get a childcare place in most of the communities that are west of the great divide.
We have childcare deserts where it's not about childcare affordability; it's accessibility. We can't get any help out there and have been relying on local government to do much of the heavy lifting in that place. They're prepared to spend $4.7 billion on support for people in capital cities, and all the people in western Queensland are asking for is a little bit of support to make health insurance a little bit more affordable so that, when they do decide to travel those couple thousand kilometres down the road to get that help in their hour of need, it's worth it and they get that support.
To think that this government would callously turn around and sit there and say, 'You're not important any more,'—you've just got to ask the question: what are the priorities of this government? The Minister for Veterans' Affairs and Defence Personnel walks in at a timely moment. When you think about the $700 million he's tried to save putting a cap on the value of veterans allied care, there's a pattern of behaviour here.
It's not just veterans and their health care that they've put a cap on, valuing their worth at $5,000. It's now also extended over to older Australians that have given a lifetime to this nation in building this nation. They're not asking for a lot, nor are the veterans.
This is where you've got to understand that this government has lost its way. It's lost its way in terms of its priorities and understanding what is important. I am the first to acknowledge that cheaper child care is important and that childcare accessibility is important, but so too is health insurance for people who have contributed so much.
That's important. That's a priority that we should not have lost sight of, and this government has. This comes back to their values and their principles—the values and principles of a government that has spent willingly and recklessly in things like green hydrogen.
The member for Page quite poignantly pointed out before that that was a real game changer that the minister was very enthusiastic about but for some reason has now gone missing after they spent billions of dollars on a pipe dream that was never going to work, and yet the priority of our elderly Australians is being overlooked. That's not the values or the principles of a government that understands.
It's not the values and principles of a government that cares. This is where governments can lose their way, and this government has lost their way. They've lost their way with veterans.
They've lost their way with elderly Australians. When you make that contribution to this nation, the nation doesn't always want everything for free, but they just want that helping hand. I say to this government that it is an opportunity and a reflection on them that, since this bill has been introduced, only 13 of their members have had the courage to stand on this side and defend the principle of what they are saying, of taking a little bit away from a generation of Australians who have given so much.
The fact that only 13 of them have had the courage to put it on the record says to me, quite clearly, that they too don't believe it, but the party machine has told them they must. Well, have the courage to stand up and stand for something. Stand for that generation of Australians that have given us what we take for granted standing here today.
That's what we're doing. We should never take that for granted. They've handed over a nation to our generation that we should be proud of, but what is the Australia we're going to hand over to the next generation when we don't value that generation, when we don't value veterans for the sacrifice that they were prepared to make for our nation?
What have we become? This is just a desperate government that is looking for any means, whether it be veterans or elderly Australians, to try and save whatever dollar they can to spend on whatever, where we don't know that it makes any sense in this country. There's no Australian that feels better off after 4½ years of this government.
Today, when this thing gets passed, there'll be fewer Australians that feel even better off. That's not the Australia that we inherited. That's not the Australia that we should hand to the next generation.
So I say to this government please reconsider. And, to those backbenchers, if you don't have the courage to stand up and say it, at least vote against it. Show the courage of what we're actually sent here to do, to do the right thing by the Australians that sent us here, particularly those Australians that have done so much for our nation.
That's the Australia and that's the parliament that we should have in this country. That's the parliament the Australian people deserve—members of parliament that, in that moment that a government is prepared to do the wrong thing, are prepared to stand up against it and to be counted against it. I doubt that it'll happen with the other 84 or 83 that haven't had the courage to come in here.
I challenge them. They're probably watching. Come out of your office if you so believe in this.
If you so believe that you want to take that little bit off that generation, well, come in here and put your voice to it. But the fact that only 13 out of 94 have been prepared to do it speaks volumes about a government that's out of touch and its members that have lost touch. I oppose the bill in every sense and form.