CONSTITUENCY STATEMENTS
Mr WALLACE (Fisher) (10:36): Yesterday, Labor forced their $3 billion cut to the private health insurance rebate through the House. They pushed it straight through the third reading. Then they gagged the member for Wannon to shut down any further debate; they just moved on.
Vote it through, shut it down and move on—that's what the Labor government does. Earlier this week, Labor gagged their own MPs, stopping them from speaking on the bill. Twice now I've sought leave to table a petition signed by 10,340 Australians opposing this cut.
Twice leave has been denied. The 10,340 people who've put their names to this petition are not asking for special treatment. They're asking to be heard in their own parliament.
And twice they've had the door shut in their faces. So I ask this government—why are you ignoring Australians? What are you so afraid of hearing?
The government's own backbench has been silenced and the opposition's been silenced. In fact, 10,340 people have been silenced—not once but twice. From 1 April next year, this bill rips away the higher rebate for Australians aged 65 and over for their private health insurance.
The Parliamentary Budget Office modelling, reported by the ABC, shows close to $1.6 billion of the savings will come directly from age pensioners. Polly, in my electorate, is an age pensioner from Beerburrum. She wrote to me about how she and her husband live right now.
Their diet is poor because they can't afford to eat properly. They shower every second day because they can't afford hot water. When their doctor asks them whether they eat a healthy diet, what are they supposed to say?
That is who this government is reaching into the pockets of. Labor calls this 'modernising'. I call it what it is.
It's a tax on growing old, and it is disgusting. This bill now goes to the Senate. Senators, listen to the people this House has now refused to hear.
Scrap the pensioner tax. I seek leave to table this document of 10,340 signatures of people from all over the country opposed to Labor's cuts to older Australians' access to private health insurance. The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Ms Payne ): Is leave granted?
Mr Gosling: It depends on whether it's a genuine petition, in which case it can be sent to the petitions— Mr WALLACE: Is leave granted or not? Mr Gosling: Leave is not granted. Mr WALLACE: This is the third time that the government has refused to leave for me to table this document.
It's the third time that this government has wanted to shut Australians' voices down. It's gutless. This government is gutless, and does not want to hear Australians.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Ms Payne ): Has the petition been approved by the Petitions Committee? Mr WALLACE: No, it has not, but that doesn't prevent me from tabling it. The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Is leave granted for the document to be presented?
No. Mr Gosling: It's a miscellaneous document. Leave is not granted.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The member's time has expired.