Steve Georganas
Adelaide · Australian Labor Party · Australia
“It reflects one of our most important national values. Health care should be available to everyone, not just to those who can afford it. Many people prioritise their health and paying their everyday essentials. That is a fact.”
“That means more than 172,000 occasions when individuals and families have been able to receive urgent medical care without needing to attend an emergency department or a public hospital and without needing to face out-of-pocket costs.”
“That is really important because that gives the confidence to those people that I spoke about earlier, those families that are doing it tough that may have previously considered whether they received the health care that they really required and was a necessity or whether they put food on the table.”
“People receive treatment earlier, chronic illnesses are managed more effectively, hospital admissions are reduced and pressure on our emergency departments is eased. Every dollar invested in effective primary care saves costs elsewhere in the system while delivering better health outcomes for Aussies.”
“I too rise to make a contribution, just as the member for Pearce just did, on the Health Insurance Amendment (Incentive Payments and Other Measures) Bill 2026. At its heart is Medicare.”
“In my home state alone, bulk-billing has risen to 80.4 per cent across the state, representing one of the strongest improvements in the country. We heard, the other day, other statistics around the country. They are all increasing, and this is a good thing. It means people are having to fork less out of their pocket when visiting a GP.”
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“I'll make that quite clear: the crisis has been there for a long time, and there was total inaction. It will take time to solve. It will take time to make sure that we get all the things correct, and we're seeing our commitment come into fruition at the moment. I've been to so many sod turning events for projects that are starting to take place, especially in my electorate of Adelaide. We have some magnificent projects that are taking place—for example, the Southwark development down in the western suburbs of Adelaide. Thousands of homes, apartments, are going to go up, especially apartments for low-income earners. And rents will be at low, subsidised prices for those who can't afford the full rent.”
“We recall quite clearly the opposition saying: 'Well, that's not an issue for us. That's an issue for the state governments, not for the federal government.' Therefore, we had total inaction for a long period of time, and now we're facing the consequences. But this government has brought the Commonwealth back to the table with the states to try and solve this problem. And it is a problem. Owning a house is so important. For many Australians today that dream feels like it's slipping further and further away. As a nation, we're doing the right thing. People are working, saving hard to try and buy that first home. I see it every day in my Adelaide community; I hear stories from parents about their kids who can't afford a house and from renters who can't afford to pay the rent. The crisis did not appear overnight.”
“During the last election, the Labor Albanese government promised to help more Australians into housing, and that is exactly what we're doing. We spoke about the five per cent deposit scheme, an election promise which we delivered on three months earlier than when it was meant to start. The five per cent deposit helps first home buyers get a home of their own sooner, slashing the amount of time required to save for a deposit. It's interesting listening to those opposite, who've been critical of our policies. I'll just say that, after nine years in government, they took no action whatsoever. In fact, for a large segment of those nine years, there wasn't even a housing minister, and, when questions were asked about housing, they were always handballed to the states.”
“We can also safeguard Australians from insurers' little secret price increases that are adding to the cost of private health cover. The legislation corrects this issue by preventing insurers from making meaningless product substitutions; instead, insurers can make submissions to the minister to request a change that decreases overall cover or even increases overall cover—but at what price? That's what they'll be looking at. This legislation is absolutely crucial, and I commend this bill to the House.”
“Someone will look at the product that is the new product, and the new prices on the product, and it will not be allowed if it's just a phoenixing product—in other words, a similar product tinkering with the edges, getting rid of the old product and saying, 'Now you have only this choice and we have to increase the premium.' On top of this, the bill requires no additional administrative burden on medical practitioners—none whatsoever. The cost of the specialist care varies widely. As we know, when costs increase Australians lose. With access to pricing information, we'll be able to arm the Australian health consumer with the knowledge that they are finding the best quality health care at the best price they can get.”
“This bill intends to give Australians confidence that their coverage will remain the same and ensure that insurers cannot continue to find sneaky ways of increasing their premiums—which, in the end, is no different to ripping off the everyday Australian consumer. For proposed new products and changes, the government will require that the insurance providers seek and receive approval before passing the cost on to consumers—so there will be ministerial approval.”
“We're helping medical practitioners too by automatically uploading their Medicare, hospital and insurer billing information to the Medical Costs Finder website, which will be a trove of information. This information, which is already collected by the government, will allow us to expand the variety of medical practitioners and out-of-pocket insurance costs accessible on the website—that'll be immediate. We know that the cost of medical and hospital services is a key driver of health inflation for consumers. These costs feed directly into the cost of out-of-pocket treatment and higher private health premiums from insurance companies. By outlawing product phoenixing by insurers, we can be confident that we can provide transparency and predictability to price increases created by private insurance agencies.”
“The AMA, Private Healthcare Australia, Members Health Fund Alliance and numerous consumer peak bodies support these measures. So we can be confident Australians will benefit from the clarity, transparency and peace of mind provided by these changes. These are changes that'll help in seeking the best value medical advice and instil confidence in private health insurers by outlawing that product phoenixing, which is just a sneaky way of increasing the premiums. It has been used, and there was evidence of that. Simply, this government is ensuring that Australians can make informed decisions about their healthcare team and ensure that private insurers act in good faith with their members—yet another way we've delivered on our election promise of a fairer and more transparent health system.”
“Together, these measures are intended to reduce cost-of-living pressures on Australians and increase the transparency of the private healthcare system. The changes will help Australians find the best-value care, and it will improve coverage from insurance premiums by preventing those insurer loopholes. The government have not brought this legislation in just on their own. They've consulted far and wide to ensure that they get this right. Services Australia, the Attorney-General's Department, the Office of Parliamentary Counsel—each had no concerns with the execution of this bill. The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, the private health insurance ombudsman and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission have also helped further refine and assist with the implementation of this legislation.”
“These loopholes allow the insurer to replace existing products with similar ones at a higher premium. Not only is this behaviour reducing consumer confidence in private health care; it's also raising the cost paid by the average consumer. And, as I said earlier, some people are doing it really tough. They're tightening their belt on other things, like food, holidays et cetera, just to make sure that they keep their private health cover going. This bill will amend the Private Health Insurance Act 2007 to require an insurer to seek ministerial approval for premiums for a proposed new product or for changes that reduce that cover. In addition to this, we're passing the modernisation changes for all premium approvals, making sure that this legislation is comprehensive and fit for purpose.”
“This will make it possible for the consumer to know exactly what they're up for. This bill seeks to close the ability for insurers to engage, as I said, in product phoenixing loopholes as well—loopholes that allow the insurer to replace those existing products with similar new products at a higher premium. I explained that a little bit earlier, where you've got a product and you just decline to offer it at the next renewal of the policy and say, 'We now don't offer that product, but we offer this one'—which is exactly the same. It's just a phoenixing method and an increase in the cost, because it's a roundabout way of increasing the cost without having to go through the proper procedures, where nine out of 10 times they may be told that they can't increase it.”
“For example, if you're going in for a procedure at a hospital, you'll find that the surgeon who's performing the procedure usually has an arrangement with particular hospitals for certain costs. If you don't actually get that information upfront, you could be going to a hospital that your surgeon does not have an arrangement with and they decide to charge you more, or the hospital charges you more, than normal. So I think it's really important that that information is made public, that everyone knows. Now, most doctors, or surgeons, are pretty good; when you go and see them, they'll tell you: 'I operate at XYZ hospitals'—make a choice out of two or three—'That's where I've got an arrangement, and that'll be the lowest cost for you.' But it's not up to them to tell you—they don't have to at this point.”
“If you're going to the hospital, you should know what it's going to cost you at the end of the day and be able to make a comparison with other hospitals, doctors, specialists or other places that are offering this procedure so you can make a choice. If it is dearer, you want to know why a particular product is dearer than another product. That is what this bill is all about. It's about being able to find the fees for every medical practitioner and locate those out-of-pocket costs for common medical procedures on the Medical Costs Finder website. The government will also publish information about which medical practitioners provide services at each hospital's facilities and which insurers have contracting arrangements with these facilities.”
“With the passage of the bill, the Australian public will be able to find fees for every single medical practitioner and they'll be able to locate the out-of-pocket costs for common medical procedures on the Medical Costs Finder website. That's important information for health consumers. After all, when we do go in for a procedure, to see a specialist or to go to the hospital, we want to know what it will cost. There's no other product that we purchase as consumers where we don't know what the upfront cost is. It just doesn't make sense that we shouldn't have the same information available for health products.”
“In other words, you're offering different products, perhaps as a health insurer, and you then write to all your customers and say, 'At the renewal of this policy, this particular product that you have on your insurance policy will cease to exist, but we offer this product, which is similar but much better.' The reality is that sometimes it's just a sneaky way of increasing the premium by keeping the same product, tinkering with the edges of it and saying, 'It's a brand new product and we're charging a different price for it.' This bill is going to stop the phoenixing product loopholes. The bill will also allow people to compare costs between medical practitioners and the insurers that they deal with, see details on how they utilise their gap over arrangements and see how practitioner fees change between locations.”
“Australians deserve access to quality medical advice at the best value that they can find. That's also why this Albanese Labor government is committed to improving the quality of transparency in the area of private health insurance, and that's what we're delivering today with this bill. The bill provides a series of considered measures that allow Australians to access information on healthcare costs and closes what are called product phoenixing loopholes.”
“Likewise, no family wants to have insurers sneakily substitute their services for more expensive products. In other words, they don't want to see a service morphing into a different product—which is really the same old product—and pay more for it. They don't want to see out-of-pocket fees skyrocket at each new renewal of the policy or at each new visit that they have with a doctor. It's simply more stress that the everyday family, parent or student, or whoever it is, has to bear when we see increasing costs in private health cover. Australians want and demand transparency on the fees that are charged to consumers and protection against any dodgy practices, and so should we as legislators. The Australian public certainly want an assurance that the cost of their health care won't saddle them with debt that they cannot manage.”
“Many years ago, when you took out health cover, it was pretty straightforward. You took out cover, and it would cover you for a whole range of things, whether it was a hospital stay, doctors, specialists or operations. For the last 20-odd years, we've seen the development of health insurance products diverge into a whole range of different products, from extras and excesses to certain procedures. If you want to make the choice not to be covered, it can be there, bringing down your costs. Or, if you take all the whistles and all the beaut things that go with them, that will make the cost even higher. When receiving private health cover, the last thing Australians want is to be slammed by ballooning out-of-pocket charges in an already extremely complicated private health insurance system.”
“Therefore, when people are doing it tough, as they are at the moment, it's really important that there is real transparency when consumers are purchasing a health insurance product or using health insurance services. As I said, right now Australians are doing it tough, so it's really important for this transparency to be in place. That's why this bill is very important. It's something that provides that transparency and assists the confidence of the consumer. Health costs have risen recently, along with the costs of many other things. While this government has made the largest investment in strengthening Medicare, opening many after-hours urgent care clinics and ensuring there are more doctors bulk-billing, we know that Australians still have to deal with the different healthcare practices that exist.”
“I rise to speak today on this very important bill. I support the introduction and passage of the Health Legislation Amendment (Improving Choice and Transparency for Private Health Consumers) Bill 2026. It is a very important bill when it comes to the transparency of our private health insurers. Improving transparency assists the consumer. It ensures that transparency is there, and it gives confidence in the system and confidence in the private health legislation area. A key concern for Australians across the nation is the cost of health insurance. Many of us speak to many constituents. Not a day goes by without people coming to see me about a whole range of issues, and we get on to health care. One of the things raised, especially by elderly Australians, is that they tighten their belts to ensure that they have private health cover.”
“I've got some gruesome photographs, which I won't show to anyone. It emphasises the importance of appropriate case assessment, of appropriate experts and of people like Greg Miller and the cohort of dentists that work at this not-for-profit association giving the right advice at the right time. They do important voluntary work by visiting Indigenous communities, outback communities and regional areas, making sure that people are getting the right advice. So I've written to the state minister for health and to the federal minister as well.”
“Something was performed with mineral trioxide, and the bonding of the coronal fragment effected an excellent prognostic outcome. This is advice on the telephone that you just wouldn't get at an emergency department. Another one is about Mrs K's slip and fall. Mrs K fell over and was triaged by the regional medical centre. After a significant commute she was discharged and contacted the triage service—that's the Australian Dental Foundation—which arranged for an immediate dental visit from someone that was perhaps operating after hours. Unfortunately she had recurrent pain and swelling in her upper lip after her discharge from the dental examination, and radiographers determined that fractured tooth fragments were embedded in her lip. It was arranged for these to be retrieved by a dental expert.”
“It would be such a pity not to be able to get them a little bit of funding to keep them going because we know that poor oral health isn't just about tooth cavities. It affects other parts of our bodies as well. If you're not eating well because you haven't got teeth or because of things that could have been prevented years ago—perhaps losing a tooth through an accident—that may contribute towards serious health conditions later on in life. Not eating effectively affects a person's ability to speak and to go to work or school. I've been given examples of some of the things that they've dealt with. This is one particular call they got from Murray Mallee. Miss H bit on a fork whilst eating her dinner and fractured the coronal of tooth 12, upper right lateral mouth, exposing the dental pulp. It goes into technical talk.”
“I think reducing the specific dental advice to patients in South Australia will create an unnecessary pain burden for patients, delayed specialist dental treatment, poorer prognosis and outcomes due to delayed advice and reduced access to equivalent primary health care for regional South Australians. So I've asked both the state minister and the federal minister to look at it, to make sure that we can keep this group going. They will keep on going even if they get no funding. They'll still answer those calls at any time after 6 pm right through to 6 am and on the weekends. It's an incredible service. They also go out as volunteers to nursing homes, to aged-care facilities, to the outback and to Aboriginal communities.”
“By the time they present to an emergency department or to a GP and by the time they're eventually seen, a knocked-out tooth will be long past that viable period. The ADF explained to me that it needs to be dealt with immediately. Most doctors—GPs or people working in emergency departments—are not experts in this. Information can be given immediately over the phone—what to do with the tooth that's been knocked out, how to place it back in the gum, how to put ice on it et cetera—and many, many people's teeth are saved just by talking on the phone. You can imagine, being a mum or dad, that your kids are playing football or soccer on the weekend, on a Saturday afternoon, and there's a tooth knocked out. What do you do? You ring this number, and they'll give you the right advice.”
“It's got a significant benefit in that it triages patients away from the emergency department areas of those overcrowded hospitals, where doctors have real life-saving dramas taking place. It's not the place for dental care or for a dental emergency. So they've managed to do that. The majority of dental emergencies for which patients are attending GPs and hospitals are toothache, avulsion, luxation and trauma. These issues are not dealt with appropriately through the ED hospitals because that's not their expertise. Their expertise is looking after trauma victims, heart attacks, strokes et cetera. What happens, as I said, is that people ring this number and they get the advice that is specific to their injury or their sore tooth.”
“It has basically provided emergency dental triage services for more than a thousand people just in 2023-24. The case load was 62 cases a month from country SA and 184 cases a month from Adelaide. Even though they're not provided in the small funding they were getting for the metro area, they were providing the services. Currently, the calls are ramping up to hundreds per day as nursing online services and GPS are now contacting them. Their name is getting out there; they're being contacted, and they don't turn anyone away. We've written to the state health minister and to the federal minister to see if there is some way to continue the small funding that gave this great service, the Australian Dental Foundation, the ability to continue their wonderful project.”
“For example, if you have an issue with any type of oral dental problems after hours or on the weekends, there's nowhere to go except for the emergency department. There, you will have doctors dealing with everything from strokes to heart attacks. If you have a tooth knocked out or an abscess on your tooth or an infection, you'll most probably sit there waiting for hours and hours and hours with no relief and absolutely no treatment. Maybe someone will look at you after seven or eight hours and give you some painkillers and send you home. This service provides a 24-hour telephone number that you can call, and they will triage you and tell you exactly what's required and what you can do. It's an incredible service. It extends access to dental services. It refers people to different dentists who operate after hours.”
“In 2020, ADF was successful in receiving some small funding through Country SA Primary Health Network to provide dental triage services for regional South Australian zones such as the outback and Murray Mallee. The funding has been renewed each year, under performance based criteria, and the service has expanded to include all non-metropolitan areas of South Australia, but he still gets calls from metropolitan areas, and they still do the triaging service. They don't turn anyone away. I've been an advocate from day one, when I came to this place, that we should include dental care in our national scheme for health care. I've been saying it for many, many years, and my position hasn't changed from 2004 when I was first elected in this place. I've shown a great interest in dental care.”
“I was asked to go into an extraction of a tooth that Dr Miller performed while the orangutan was asleep, which was a very difficult situation. He's a very good and renowned dentist in South Australia. Dr Miller runs a critical service for people living in regional South Australia and in nursing homes in South Australia. They call themselves the Australian Dental Foundation. It's Australia's largest dental health charity not-for-profit group. They're registered; they have an ACNC registration, and they are based in my electorate in North Adelaide. They're celebrating 10 years of operation and can proudly say that they're now genuinely a national charity, because they get calls from all over Australia. The service is being delivered to vulnerable people in every state of South Australia.”
“I rise today to raise an issue in South Australia and in my electorate. As many of you may or may not be aware, last Friday, 20 March, was World Oral Health Day; in other words, a day internationally that we look after our oral health or talk about oral health. In my electorate, I have a magnificent, not-for-profit organisation that assists people with emergency dental issues. They provide critical dental triage services in South Australia. It's run by volunteer dentists and volunteers who assist with fundraising and a whole range of other things. At the head of this is Dr Greg Miller, a renowned dentist in South Australia—and a very good dentist, I must say. He also looks after the orangutans at the Adelaide Zoo. Have you ever seen the teeth on an orangutan?”
“People have shared their stories, their fears, their hopes and their belief that a society built on compassion should not allow people to be disadvantaged simply because they choose to learn more about their health, their genetic make-up and the things that they could be prone to, and what they should be doing to prevent any negative health. These voices, the people who have come to see me, steady and sincere constituents, carried a simple truth: no-one should ever be penalised for doing the right thing, especially in health. No-one should have to choose between seeking life-saving medical insight and preserving peace of mind for themselves and their families. No-one should ever be placed in that position. Debate interrupted.”
“People who sought knowledge found themselves caught in a system that made them feel vulnerable, judged and sometimes even punished, instead of being supported for taking proactive steps. Too many faced barriers precisely when they needed understanding the most. Across communities, including countless people who began reaching out to my office as early as February last year, the message from the public has been consistent, as I'm sure it has been for all of us who have constituents that come to talk to us about this particular issue. The message that I've been hearing is clear: this isn't fair, and we need to make it fairer.”
“This bill protects not only the health of people but also the issues that could affect the financial costs of health or—even worse—lead to people not being able to get any cover at all. Across the country, individuals and families are choosing to undertake genetic testing so they can make sense of their health, prepare for the future and make informed decisions that may one day save their lives. These tests give people knowledge, and with knowledge comes clarity to map out the future for better health. For far too long that same information—information that can guide someone to life-saving treatment—has been a source of anxiety rather than empowerment and, as I explained earlier, potentially detrimental in terms of costs and insurance cover.”
“At that point the person would have to make a decision as to whether to go ahead with the genetic testing so they can get all the details of their family history—I gave you an example of prostate cancer; it could be a whole range of other things—in order to protect themselves into the future. If these laws aren't in place, they will have to consider: Will I lose my life insurance? Will I be able to get health cover? Will I be able to afford the premiums or the excesses that they may impose upon me because of this genetic testing? Health should never be a choice. We should be doing the best that we can for our health, as individuals, as governments and as a community.”
“Genetic testing is a good thing. It can monitor the traits of your ancestors in your body. Deputy Speaker Freelander, I don't have to tell you, being a doctor, how important it is. We don't want people to put their health at risk. Through testing, they might discover that all the males in their family have a history of prostate cancer, for example. It makes sense to have a test done to see if you share genetic make-up that will give you a high likelihood of developing prostate cancer. That would be a good thing to discover early. You could take precautions, have regular testing and put a whole range of measures in place to protect you. The dangerous side of it is that, when we want to purchase a financial product, such as life insurance or general health insurance, it could be very detrimental.”
“I rise to support this bill. I'm very proud to support the introduction and implementation of the Treasury Laws Amendment (Genetic Testing Protections in Life Insurance and Other Measures) Bill 2025. It is very long overdue. Together with members on this side, I stand very proudly in support of stronger protections for people undergoing genetic testing, and ensuring that any genetic testing that's done will not be detrimental in terms of other financial products or insurances that they wish to purchase to protect their lives—something to protect the family with, in case there's a death—or protecting the costs that are incurred with health insurance. That's why this particular bill is very important. We need to ensure that we have measures in place that give stronger protection to people undergoing genetic testing.”
“Already, I've seen statistics saying that people who have moved to South Australia have got their front-end offices already set up in the hundreds. This is a magnificent opportunity. We should all be supporting it. We want to see it come to fruition, which will provide jobs for the future for many generations of South Australians and Australians.”
“At the same time, we are ensuring that we are looking after our defence needs in a region that we will need to look after for many years to come. This is, as I said, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. We're on the cusp of this manufacturing revolution that will create jobs for many generations to come. We just have to make sure that we get this right and that we put everything in place. Things are already starting to happen down there. They're starting to build the premises down there that will house AUKUS. There alone, there are about 2,000 to 3,000 jobs. Once AUKUS gets up and running, there'll be thousands and thousands of jobs. The important thing is the industries that will feed into AUKUS.”
“Thousands of people worked there not only in General Motors-Holden's but also in the manufacturing jobs that supported Holden's. Today, we have that same opportunity with AUKUS. We have that same opportunity to ensure that it goes smoothly and that people with vision are supporting it. We know that the United States is supporting it. We know that Britain is supporting it. The creation of jobs and the creation of work for future generations of Australians—this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for governments to get this right and to ensure that it takes place. When we look at the types of jobs that are being created—and I've been down there on a number of occasions with ministers and shadow ministers over the years—we are creating cutting-edge jobs of the future with good pay and good conditions.”
“It got together with General Motors from the US, and they produced manufacturing industries that produced motor vehicles for the next 60 or 70 years. Back then, there were two people that had a vision. They were Premier Playford, a Liberal premier—and I give credit to him—and Ben Chifley. They got together and supported the industry. At the time, there were a lot of sceptics around saying: 'This cannot be done. This won't be done. We can't produce like Ford in the United States.' But these two had a vision, and they created it. That created jobs in South Australia, Victoria and other places for many years to come. My father was one of the beneficiaries of General Motors-Holden's. He worked there for most of his life and supported his family.”
“But I also would like to say that, prior to that, there was a lot of campaigning taking place from the previous premier Jay Weatherill right through to the then opposition Malinauskas et cetera to make sure that these projects came to fruition and that work was done to ensure that we got this project up and running. When I think of AUKUS in South Australia, I think of 30,000 to 40,000 jobs being created in our state just to support AUKUS, 5,000 to 10,000 jobs at AUKUS plus another 30,000 to 35,000 in small manufacturing—cutting-edge technology jobs for AUKUS and to support AUKUS. When I think of AUKUS, I think we're on the cusp of the next cutting-edge manufacturing revolution in Australia, and I say so based on the history of South Australia. Back in the 1940s, there was a factory called Holden's that was producing cars.”
“I rise in support of this motion, and I do so because it is one of the most important projects that's been undertaken in South Australia not just for South Australia but for the entire nation, for Australia, for our defence industry, for manufacturing and for the creation of jobs. I heard what the member for Riverina was saying, and I accept that the Morrison government put things into action to ensure that we had the AUKUS partnership and that the nuclear powered submarines, which are so important to our defence strategy, are built in South Australia.”
“My question is to the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations. How is the Albanese Labor government delivering for workers, including in South Australia? How does this compare to other approaches?”
“Today I want to acknowledge Mr Sacha for his courage in sharing his story and experience. By doing so, he's helped shine a light on the importance of fairness, accountability and compassion in the services that people rely on, whether that be telecommunications, banking or financial services. I'm very pleased that the Assistant Treasurer is here in the chamber. He is one of the ministers responsible, and I know the work that he's putting into this area. We really appreciate it. House adjourned at 17:00 The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Mr Boyce ) took the chair at 09:30.”
“We were very pleased to help him, but we had to intervene, and then, all of a sudden, the problem was fixed. These people need to be heard. They need to be able to have the confidence that the service providers that we're paying money for are there to assist them when things go wrong. Most of all, Mr Sasha's story highlights a deeper truth, which is that many Australians do not have the time, the confidence or the resources to challenge these large corporations. Some feel intimidated, some feel overwhelmed and others simply give up. I'm sure all of us in this House deal with constituents who come to see us about services that they've paid for but are not getting for whatever reason and they cannot navigate a way through to get recompense or to ensure that the services are provided to them.”
“No-one should ever feel pressured or intimidated when simply trying to resolve a legitimate concern. Australia has complaints pathways for a reason. They're there to protect people like Mr Sacha, to ensure fairness and to prevent large organisations from overwhelming the individual they serve. Behind the policies, procedures and call centres are real people, like Mr Sacha, who are trying to stay connected to their families, support their work and navigate everyday pressures. Mr Sacha came to our office and reached out for help. Within hours we had the issue sorted out for him. But why does it have to come to this? Why could they not deal with their customer in a way that was fair and equitable? Why did it have to come to the point where he had to visit his federal MP?”
“For many people, three weeks may seem manageable, but when your livelihood depends on that service, as did Mr Sacha's, three weeks is a long time. When vulnerable family members rely on you for support and you need to communicate with them, three weeks feels like an eternity. For Mr Sacha, it created deep stress and real disruption in his life and, more importantly, in his business. Understandably, he tried to return one of the handsets—it was unopened, unused, still sealed in the box—hoping for understanding. Instead, he encountered a brick wall. He encountered rigid contractual language and a response that left him feeling unheard. He was told that he would have to pay a $1,000 fee and was discouraged from seeking help through the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman.”
“They often find themselves confronted with long delays, unclear communication or responses that feel very impersonal, do not address the issue and are very dismissive. It leaves people feeling powerless, especially when the issue affects their work, their family and their sense of security. Back in November 2020, Mr Sacha, who lives in my electorate, purchased on an Optus plan two new mobile handsets that he needed for his job and to stay in touch with his elderly parents, who depended on regular communication. Not long after he'd purchased this particular service and had signed up to Optus, the local telecommunication tower in Prospect, which was the area that he lived in, went down and there was no communication on these particular phones. He was told repairs could take up to three weeks.”
“I would like to take a moment to talk about one of the people in my electorate, someone whose experience reflects the challenges that many Australians face every day when dealing with large service providers, big multinational companies, big corporations, financial institutions, call centres—businesses that have robotic answering services and automated computer messaging. This is the story of Mr Sacha, and through it, I'm sure, is the story of countless Australians and others who quietly struggle with essential services when they fall short. Mr Sacha's experience is, unfortunately, familiar to many when every day Australians reach out for support, particularly in moments of stress, to these companies when something has gone wrong with the service that they are supposed to be provided with.”