Petition - Private Health Insurance Rebate

February 29, 2012

I have tabled before Parliament a petition with 2,268 signatures from the people of Boothby, calling on the government not to means test the private health insurance rebate. ... Read more »

Speech - Student Services and Amenities Fee

February 27, 2012

Labor's new tax of a $263 per year student services and amenities fee is yet another way that the Labor Party is increasing the pressure on the cost of living for all Australians. ... Read more »

Speech - e-health and Personally Controlled Electronic Health Records (PCEHR)

February 16, 2012

The Coalition is supporting of the implementation of a national e-health strategy and has not opposed the implementation of this bill.

We are concerned, however, that flawed implementation and a lack of forward planning may cause significant problems in the future. In particular:

• There has been no mention of the ongoing costs required to maintain, repair and replace the $100 million in physical hardware and assets allowed for the system;
• There is no inbuilt incentive for GPs to use and mantain the system;
• Concerns have been raised about the governance and structure of privacy provisions;
• The 1 July commencement date seems arbitrary and somewhat unrealistic, designed primarily to give the government something to announce.

For these reasons, whilst not opposing the bills, we have reserved our right to move amendments, pending the outcome of the Senate inquiry.

... Read more »

Speech - the Private Health Insurance rebate

February 13, 2012

This legislation represents almost $2.8 billion being ripped out of the pockets of Australians who hold private health insurance.

When Labor were last in power the level of people covered by private health insurance plummeted from 50 per cent of the population to a low of 30 per cent in the mid-1990s. We also saw premiums rise by almost 40 per cent.

Independant modelling has predicted that up to 1.6 million Australians will drop their cover over the next five years and up to 4.3 million Australians will downgrade their cover, resulting in an increase to premiums 10 per cent above what they otherwise would have.

We will see an extra 845,000 Australians admitted to public hospitals and an extra $3.8 billion in additional recurrent costs for the public hospital system.

There are 96,728 people in Boothby who are covered by private health insurance—72.3 per cent of voters on the roll have private health insurance, 63.3 per cent of voters hold hospital treatment insurance and 71.5 per cent hold general insurance for extras. Both Flinders Private Hospital and Griffith private hospital will also be affected.

Over 2,000 Boothby residents have signed a petition opposing this measure, this bill has already been rejected by the Senate on two separate occasions and I will be opposing this legislation in Parliament. ... Read more »