PRIVATE MEMBERS' BUSINESS
Mr CHAFFEY (Parkes) (17:41): I rise in support of the member for Fisher's private member's motion and the excellent work that he has done now for such a long period of time to represent senior people not only in his electorate but right throughout this country. There are many people throughout Australia who are suffering at the hands of this Albanese Labor government's out-of-control cost of living—young people, families, small-business owners, employees, mum-and-dad investors.
But the people who are likely to be suffering the most are also the least likely to be able to do anything about it. Our older Australians, the same people who sat around the kitchen table trying to make ends meet in the days before we had mobile phones, the internet, streaming or five-bedroom homes, are the ones who are targeted by the Albanese government's private health insurance rebate cuts.
The same people who weathered the extreme measures needed to feed their families during World War II, who grew up in hand-me-down clothes and who stretched $10 to feed big families for a week are the ones that are being targeted with this legislation. People who have done as the government wanted them to do, who have put money away for health insurance all of their lives, are now being told the additional private health insurance rebate for people aged 65 and over will be cut.
Disgraceful—yet another cut for the most vulnerable Australians. Make no mistake, Australians don't want this. The vast majority of the more than 600 submissions to the Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee have said this will have significant consequences.
The extra cost for single people over 70 on gold hospital cover will be $408 a year. For those on silver cover, it will be $324 more a year. As the shadow minister for health and aged care, Senator Anne Ruston, has said, about two million of the 3.2 million Australians likely to be hit by the cuts already live on less than $37,000 a year.
They simply can't afford it. Every cent counts. Every extra cent, every extra dollar—$10 or $408—will take food out of their mouths, heating out of their homes and fuel out of their cars.
It is a decision some Australians know they simply cannot afford. National Seniors Australia have said their research shows 76.2 per cent of full-rate age pensioners will drop their private health insurance if premiums increase. These are the people who need it the most.
Forty-four thousand Australians are expected to drop their private health cover, and several hundred thousand more are expected to downgrade the cover that they currently have. If these people no longer have private health insurance, what will happen to them? An 80-year-old woman in Broken Hill might not seek medical assistance that she desperately needs.
A 72-year-old man in Forbes might be too worried about the money, the cost, to let his family know about his real health issues. A 66-year-old person in Moree might, after 40 years of paying for private health insurance, find themselves sick at the bottom of the list for the public health system. These vulnerable people—who will no longer be able to afford private health, where the rates are already rising all the time—will then become part of the public health system.
This will in turn be paid for by all Australians and add to the already dysfunctional system that is groaning under the pressure and under the weight. This is not a saving; this is simply a cost shifting. It's not a fix.
It's not even a bandaid. It's a recipe for disaster. This is not only an accident waiting to happen but an accident waiting to happen with no medical assistance at the other end.
No state or territory has supported this bill. Most of them have warned of longer elective surgery waiting and millions in extra costs to state taxpayers. We cannot leave older Australians to fall through the system.
That seems to be planned under this Albanese Labor government. This bill must not be passed. Already, this Albanese Labor government is asking too much of them.
Let these Australians who have worked hard, who have saved and who have paid their dues be allowed to access the services that they've already paid for.