PRIVATE MEMBERS' BUSINESS
Ms AMBIHAIPAHAR (Barton) (17:37): I rise to speak on the member for Fisher's motion on private health insurance. The problem with this motion is that it presents the government's reforms as though they are designed to target older Australians. I want to speak on some terms I think we can all agree on.
All of us here in this place respect older Australians and the country they have built for all of us, and we are only here because of their contributions. My concern is ensuring that our aged-care system can support them as they age and as their needs become much more complex. That is why we need the modest changes, with savings directly going to essential services for the aged-care sector.
The government's approach on the private health insurance rebate is so that the same rules apply to everyone. From 1 April 2027, the rebate will be determined by income not age. Australians on the same income will therefore receive the same level of government support.
People aged 65 and over will still receive significant government subsidised discounts of up to 24 per cent, and, if you earn $101,000 or less as a single person or $202,000 or less as a family, you will receive the highest rebate, and that support will be available on the same basis to every eligible Australian, regardless of age. I think that's the pertinent point.
The government expects the average impact to be around $250 per person each year, less than a dollar a day, and it expects only a very small reduction of 0.4 per cent in private health insurance membership. Most importantly, every dollar saved through these changes will be directed into aged care. It's going back to the people.
It will help deliver more residential aged-care beds, more Support at Home packages, shorter wait times and better care for older Australians, but the reality is that this government must substantially expand aged-care services. Australia's population is ageing at a rate we have not seen before. If we don't invest now, the pressures on families, workers and the entire care system will become much greater.
These reforms are also fundamentally about fairness. The private health insurance rebate is funded by all taxpayers, including younger people, renters, families under cost-of-living pressures and Australians who do not hold private cover at all. It is reasonable that public support be targeted according to a person's capacity to pay rather than increase automatically because they have reached a particular age.
That does not diminish the contribution of older Australians. On the contrary, it ensures that government investment follows need. Many older Australians depend on residential care, home support, carers and clinical services, and those services are already under pressure.
Redirecting savings towards them is a practical way to improve dignity and choice and quality of life. It's also important to be honest about what these reforms do not do. They do not abolish the rebate, do not prevent anyone from keeping private health insurance and do not remove Medicare or undermine universal health care.
They simply remove an age based loading from a means-tested subsidy while preserving assistance for Australians on lower and middle incomes. Those opposite cannot demand stronger aged-care services while opposing every reasonable measure that helps actually fund them. Government is about choices.
Our choice is to protect support for people who need it most and invest in care that will benefit older Australians directly. These reforms are measured. They are very much targeted and responsible.
They maintain meaningful assistance for private health insurance, improve intergenerational fairness and support the long-term sustainability of aged care. That is the honest case for these reforms.