Leon Rebello
McPherson · Liberal National Party · Australia
“But it's becoming really frightening when there is nowhere else to go if i can no longer afford rent and health care too. Another person said: As a still working, self funded semi retiree (73years) old, I feel disillusioned and disgusted by our current govt, who seem to be hell bent on removing any incentive to be a self sufficient, hard…”
“I'm going to read out some of the comments that ordinary Australians in the 65-plus category have sent to me and give them a voice in this place, because those on the opposite side of this parliament are prepared to go against them. I quote one person: 'That's a joke, Leon. We currently struggle to maintain existing low cover.”
“A lot of them are hanging on by the skin of their teeth financially, when they need their insurance the most and after paying premiums for years with minimal claims. Labour will pay the price if they mess with older Australians … Another person said: So this is over $1200 for the two of us.”
“We received over 2,000 responses to those surveys, and most of the responses focused on the fact that these are older Australians who have worked for this country, who have done the right thing for so many years, and now they're finding themselves in a really difficult spot as a result of this government's characterisation of them.”
“And I say to those opposite, the ones who have contributed to this debate and those who are sitting in the chamber today or watching, you should really look at yourself and look at the content of what we're saying, because this is about your parents, it's about your grandparents and it's about people that you represent, or are supposed to…”
“I commend my friend and colleague the member for Gippsland for moving this motion in relation to the government's failure to govern for older Australians. I am livid.”
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“Sovereign manufacturing is national security. Social cohesion is national security. The government does not seem to understand that all of these things are connected. The third failing of this budget is social cohesion. Australia's social fabric is being pulled totally apart, and we are seeing this in our electorates across the country. This is a government that talks about inclusion, but it plays the politics of division. Right now, it is pitting young Australians against older Australians. It pits renters against mum-and-dad investors. It pits workers against small businesses. It pits people who have served and people who have sacrificed against those who are told that their challenges can only be solved by government—and not just by government but by government punishing someone else.”
“It does not provide the urgent, credible and meaningful plan required to keep Australians safe. It does not move with the seriousness that the strategic environment demands, and it does not send the message to our region, nor to our allies or our adversaries, that Australia is prepared to do what is necessary. My view is clear. Defence spending must rise to at least three per cent of GDP. We need a whole-of-nation national security defence strategy. We need serious investment in capability, and we need to back the Australian businesses, including on the Gold Coast, that are building the next generation of defence technology, not punish them with tax settings that drive them offshore and disincentivise their need to innovate. Fuel security is national security. Economic resilience is national security.”
“On that they are right, but words are not capability, announcements are not deterrents and press releases alone do not defend a country. The government points to additional defence spending over the decade, but the question every member of this place should be asking is really quite simple: can Australia stand on its own two feet under this government? The answer is no. Our alliances matter. ANZUS matters. AUKUS matters. The Five Eyes matter. Our partnerships with like-minded democracies matter. But partnerships alone are not enough. We must have the domestic preparedness to defend our national interest. We must have sovereign industry, fuel security and a defence force that's properly equipped, properly supported and ready for the realities of the decade ahead. This budget does not meet that test.”
“A business that shuts its doors employs no-one. A family that leaves Australia takes with it skills, capital, jobs and confidence. A young person who sees effort punished will eventually stop believing that the system is fair. Government does not create wealth. Businesses do, families do, workers do, entrepreneurs do and investors do. Labor's role is to create the conditions for them to succeed, but Labor's instinct is, quite frankly, the opposite—to regulate more, tax more, spend more and then act surprised when ambition leaves our shores. The second failing of this budget is defence and national security. For years now, the Prime Minister and the defence minister have told Australians that we face the most complex and testing strategic circumstances since the end of the Second World War.”
“I went to Dubai last year after Albo tried to push for unrealised gains tax and I met with an accounting firm. When the accountants entered the room they said "sit down we know why you are here, every new customer since your budget has been an Australian" This Government has destroyed business opportunity. Wages are through the roof and now the shameless grab for 47% has broken me. I have been on call 24/7 for 20 years while I built a business and jobs. We were already taxed too much but I stayed anyway. I'm furious. If this gets through my wife and I are likely to pull the kids from school and start again in NZ. This is just greed and mismanagement on an epic scale. This is the human consequence of this budget. This is what happens when government treats aspiration as a problem to be taxed, rather than a virtue to be encouraged.”
“These are not abstract accounting changes; they hit people who have done the right thing—small business owners, mum-and-dad investors, retirees, young savers and families who are all trying to build a future without depending on government. This is not tax reform; it's an assault on aspiration. I'd like to read to the House a message that I received from a local business owner. These are their words, not mine. They say: Hey Leon, I'm sure you are hearing this plenty but this budget killed me. I've already taken steps to close a new business that I was launching here and I'm shifting it home to NZ. The CGT greed and attack on bucket companies is the last straw. I know I'm not the only one. Both of my mentors left Australia 3 years ago and warned me.”
“The first failing of this budget is economic. Before the latest global instability and conflict had fully flowed through to prices, inflation was already going the wrong way. The ABS reported annual CPI inflation at 4.6 per cent in March. That's up from 3.7 per cent the month before. Interest rates remain painful for Australian families, and the RBA cash rate is at 4.35 per cent, which means Australians are paying more, borrowing more, saving less and falling further behind. Yet what is Labor's answer—more taxes, more spending, more debt, more intervention, more government. And because Labor cannot manage money, it's coming after yours. This budget attacks capital gains, negative gearing and discretionary trusts. It limits negative gearing. It changes capital gains tax arrangements. It introduces a minimum tax on discretionary trusts.”
“Instead, Labor has turned this moment into tougher times for Australians. This is a government with a leadership deficit. It talks about responsibility but refuses to lead by example. It talks about fairness but divides Australians against each other. It talks about security but does not fund the capability required to keep Australians safe. It talks about aspiration while punishing those who work hard, save hard and take risks. Australians are not stupid. They know what's happening in their own lives. They know whether the weekly shop costs more and whether the mortgage is harder to pay. They know whether their rent has gone up and whether their business is being buried under taxes, wages, regulation and uncertainty. And they know that, after years of Labor government, life has not become easier; it has, in fact, become harder.”
“I rise to speak on the appropriation bills at a time when Australia stands at a crossroads. Across the world, we are seeing uncertainty, instability and conflict. The global order is shifting. Supply chains are fragile. The strategic environment in our region is deteriorating. Social trust is under pressure, and families are being stretched. Businesses are questioning whether this is still the country where effort is rewarded and risk is worth taking. Australia itself is not experiencing conflict, but we are living in a world that demands preparedness, discipline and leadership. This should have been the moment when the government used its time in office to strengthen our economy, harden our national resilience, rebuild trust in our institutions and prepare Australia for the challenges ahead.”
“It needs to put the participants first, and it needs to support those who are doing the right thing, support participants and work with them to help them get ahead. At the end of the day, restoring integrity in the NDIS is going to be the only way we can ensure it remains a long-term solution to supporting Australians with disabilities. The NDIS belongs to Australians and to Australians with disabilities, not to governments who are balancing budgets. Reform is necessary, and fraud must be stopped because we must secure the future of the NDIS, but we must do it without abandoning Australians who depend on it every single day.”
“The government can't continue to claim that it's protecting the NDIS while billions are leaking out through fraud and exploitation. We need to make sure we see reform that doesn't overburden those who are doing the right thing, those who are legitimate providers and those who are legitimate participants. We can't drive allied health workers out, and we're seeing that happen. I'm seeing it time and time again. A number of people who work in that space have reached out to me to say that they are overburdened with reporting, with paperwork. They're forced to complete paperwork that they feel—and I hear this time and time again—is never read by people. We need to have a system that gets past the bureaucracy and goes directly to the needs of the participants.”
“We need to make sure that we build a system that Australians can be proud of, not a system that Australians are concerned about. Ultimately, if we don't do that, the future of the NDIS and everybody that it supports is in jeopardy. When I speak to people across my electorate, they talk to me about their needs, and there is no doubt that there is a considerable need on the Gold Coast, as there is, I'm sure, across the country. There is no shortage of funds in this space. What there is a shortage of is efficiency. We on this side of the House will strongly support and work with the government in doing whatever it takes to ensure we get through this and we're able to create a system that is going to instil confidence in the public.”
“Six to 10 per cent of claim outlays, according to the ANAO's estimates, are potentially fraudulent, incorrect or non-compliant. Based on 2025 spending, that's estimated to be between $2.9 billion and $4.8 billion of leakage annually, which could rise to $8 billion by the end of the decade. This is at a time when Australians are really struggling to keep up with their own payments, when Australians who have disabilities aren't able to access the care that they need and when people like Levi are not able to get immediate access to the support that they need. Every dollar that is lost to fraud is a dollar that's taken away from Australians with a disability. On the fraud side, taxpayers deserve accountability, participants deserve protection and whistleblowers deserve support, not silence.”
“But we don't think this proposed legislation is going to fix the NDIS. We don't think this goes far enough. We don't think it will do what it needs to do in order to restore integrity to the NDIS. I implore the government to reconsider its approach to the NDIS more broadly to make sure that we are actually going to address the issues that we are seeing in the NDIS. The fact that 94 per cent of providers are currently unregistered is something that, prior to entering politics, I had absolutely no idea about. It is absolutely shocking that, while across various industries, various sectors and professional bodies, if you want to practise in certain fields, you need to be registered, in the NDIS there's a different standard. We are also seeing the value of the fraudulent activity, which goes to the integrity of the NDIS.”
“There is, indeed, a story behind each and every one of the names of the people who are involved in the NDIS, and there are many people on both sides—people who are providers and people who are participants in the system—who have their experiences and their stories. But the other side of this debate that I will talk to is a part that has gained a lot of national attention, and that is the fraud issues with the NDIS. That, ultimately, pierces the integrity of the system. This is where we on the opposition side of this chamber can absolutely support reform, because reform is needed and is well and truly overdue. It's only reform that will ensure that funds are preserved to go to the right place and to make sure that people like Levi are able to get the support that they need.”
“Michelle had a lung cancer diagnosis and surgery, which then limited her ability to act as a carer for Levi. Once we reached out to the NDIS, the NDIS confirmed that contact was made with Michelle towards the end of November in 2025, and that matter was referred to the appropriate team for action. It was able to be addressed and there was an outcome that was favourable for Levi. But the point is that the situation shouldn't take the mother, who's obviously going through a lot herself, having to reach out to their federal member of parliament to then make representations on her behalf because a system that was designed to protect people exactly like 12-year-old Levi is not working and is broken. That is fundamentally what we need to be addressing here today.”
“Levi's smile absolutely lit up the stage. But Levi and his mum have been going through some challenges with the NDIS, and Levi's mum, Michelle, contacted my office seeking some urgent assistance regarding significant delays in the processing of Levi's NDIS plan. Those issues had been pending since July 2025. They came to my office because Levi hadn't had an updated plan in nearly five years, despite the fact that he requires critical supports, including a communication device to assist with his transition to high school. As well, Levi is in a mechanical wheelchair. Michelle said to me that her experience was of ongoing difficulties obtaining clear information from the NDIS. She received inconsistent updates and faced communication barriers with staff, and that situation was particularly worsened because of Michelle's own health issues.”
“I'd like to speak to a particular example, because this, I think, gives the human element and the human aspect of the NDIS. In my electorate, I've had many people who are involved in the NDIS reach out to me, whether they're participants or they're providers. Since I was elected, they've persistently spoken about a system that is broken. They've spoken about a system that doesn't actually do what it is or was intended to do. The casualties of those inefficiencies and of a broken system are people such as 12-year-old Levi. Michelle, who's the mother of 12-year-old Levi, reached out to my office towards the end of last year. Levi has cerebral palsy. He's a terrific, energetic and enlightening young man. Towards the end of last year, I had the opportunity to meet Levi at one of the end-of-year school awards.”
“As I said at the outset, most people I speak to—in fact, most Australians—say to me that they have absolutely no issue in putting out money to support Australians in genuine need. The issue comes where it is not used effectively or where those people do not actually get the benefit of the funds that are being used. This bill creates a new eligibility framework, new assessments and reassessments of existing participants, but it doesn't clearly explain how those assessments work, who conducts them, what thresholds apply and where people go if they are removed from the program. Families are being asked to trust a system that the government itself has not fully outlined or designed, and this is at a time where the level of trust not only in politics and government but in the NDIS is not very high.”
“Conversely, in the conversations that I've had with people across my electorate and with people who have written to me from across the country, we've also seen a reduction in the public confidence in the NDIS. Without that public confidence, there is no public licence for it. This is where the integrity of the system becomes so critically important. In 2023, Labor promised a growth cap of eight per cent, and then they moved that target to 5.6 per cent, but we're still seeing growth sitting at the 10.3 per cent mark. The government is now trying to aim it at two per cent, which, as you can see, based on the record, doesn't really instil a sense of confidence. The government has announced savings before it has properly explained the human consequences.”
“It's about people who have gone through an experience or who have been born with or developed certain conditions or issues that, through no fault of their own, have put them in a difficult situation. These people are not the problem. The problem is that, as with many different forms of government expenditure, there are people who can misuse the system. There is fraud, waste, weak oversight, poor administration and a lack of clarity. That is exactly what the government must address. This is, I'll point out, Labor's third attempt to slow NDIS growth, and that's quite concerning. We have seen this gradual increase. It's gradual, but it's a persistent increase in the cost of the NDIS.”
“The NDIS was originally expected to cost $13.6 billion, but we've seen that the NDIS bill is approximately $50 billion each year, and it's projected to increase towards the $70 billion mark by the end of the decade. We have 761,426 participants nationally, with around 3,790 participants in my electorate of McPherson, and we have a growth rate of around 10.3 per cent. The issue is not—and this is not what we're discussing—whether the NDIS should exist or not. The issue is whether the government is able to make it sustainable without leaving Australians with a disability worse off, and that is something that is very important in the context of this debate. At the end of the day, it's about people. It's about the parents, the carers, the siblings, the support workers and the people who are doing their best to try and live independently.”
“We've seen it playing out across the media as well. There are a few different points I'd like to make in the course of my contribution on the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026. Firstly, it is that the coalition is a supporter of the NDIS. It is that sustainability matters. It is that fraud and waste must be tackled, that participants and families must not pay the price for government incompetence and that reform must be careful, transparent and compassionate. When I speak to people across my electorate, we hear about their views on the NDIS. At a time when Australians are really hurting due to this cost-of-living crisis, it's not unexpected that people raise with me their concerns about the areas of government expenditure, and one of those that I hear about is the NDIS.”
“The National Disability Insurance Scheme is one of Australia's most significant social reforms. It exists because Australians believe that people with significant and permanent disability deserve dignity, independence and the opportunity to live full lives. This view is entirely shared by the coalition. But today we're seeing that families across the country are deeply anxious. This isn't because they oppose reform but because they fear that this government is asking them to carry the cost of its failure to properly manage the scheme. On the other side, there's also the anxiety of the Australian taxpayer who has no issue with providing support to those who are in genuine need but who right now feels that they're being ripped off and rorted. We've seen this across the country. We've seen it on social media.”
“Older Australians built this country. They raised families, paid taxes, started businesses, volunteered in our communities and carried the responsibilities that made Australia strong. They do not deserve to be treated like a source of endless revenue. They deserve respect, they deserve certainty and they deserve a government that remembers this one simple truth: you do not strengthen Australia by punishing the people who built it.”
“These so-called optional fees are not optional for the people who rely on them. Providers will pass on the costs, and older Australians will pay more at one of the most vulnerable stages of their life. Labor promised no changes to the GST before the election. Now, older Australians are finding out what that promise was worth. Now we see the introduction of a death tax by stealth. After a lifetime of work saving, sacrifice and contribution, Labor's reaching beyond retirement and into what Australians had hoped to leave behind for their families. Let's call this for what it is: this is Labor punishing older Australians because they don't vote for them. This is not reform. It's not fairness; it's a tax raid dressed up as policy. Australians don't want carve outs to Labor's toxic taxes; they want them axed.”
“They're simply asking for the government to stop changing the rules after they've structured their retirement on them. First, Labor's coming after their private health insurance. Australians over 65 who did the responsible thing, who planned ahead, took pressure off the public system by maintaining private cover, are now being told that they should pay more. More than 1.4 million Australians will be hit with premium increases of up to $640 a year. In my own electorate, more than 1,400 older Australians have contacted me to tell me that they may be forced to cancel their cover altogether. That will not just hurt them; it'll push more people into an already stretched public hospital system. Then Labor's coming after aged care by expanding the GST to include aged-care living fees.”
“When a government runs out of money, it quickly tells you who it thinks should foot the bill for its wasteful spending, and, under this Labor government, the answer is becoming very clear—older Australians. Labor has fired the gun on intergenerational warfare. This is a government that speaks the language of fairness while practising the politics of division. It says one thing before an election and does the opposite after. It promised Australians relief and, instead, it's delivered pressure. It promised lower costs and, instead, it's delivered higher taxes, higher health bills and higher anxiety for people who have worked their whole lives to stand on their own two feet. Older Australians are not asking for special treatment.”
“These are taxes on builders trying to build, on families, trying to buy and on a generation trying to believe that hard work still means something. And here's the hypocrisy: the Prime Minister has protected his own right, and the right of 20 out of 22 members of his frontbench, to continue to benefit from the very tax rules that he now wants to deny the next generation. Labor says it wants more homes, but its policies build fewer. Labor says it backs aspiration, but its taxes punish it. Labor says this is about intergenerational fairness, but its budget shows it's about intergenerational fraud. Prime Minister, you can't continue to claim to help first home buyers while building a system that makes them permanent renters.”
“Young Australians are doing everything right. They're working, they're saving, they're sacrificing and they're trying to get ahead. But, Prime Minister, do you realise what's happening and what you're doing? Australians do. You're pulling up the ladder on an entire generation, and every member opposite is complicit. You're building a system where first home buyers compete against investors, big funds and a government that keeps making homes more expensive to build. Labor's own budget confirms it will build 35,000 fewer homes over the next decade, and it doesn't stop there. Labor's industrial relations changes, red tape and protection racket for the CFMEU are not free. They show up in the price of every slab, every frame and every new home.”
“If this government is going to put its money where its mouth is in relation to securing decent energy supplies and decent fuel supplies for this country, it needs to start getting serious about supporting Australian gas extraction and fast-tracking approvals, and it also needs to provide the details of its still unclear gas policy. The coalition has an end-to-end plan for more fuel, more storage and more security. We've spoken about doubling minimum reserves of petrol, diesel and jet fuel. We've spoken about investing $800 million to unlock more than one billion litres of new fuel storage capability. Those are just some of the long-term generational policies that we have put forward. But I say to this government: fuel security is national security, and you need to get serious.”
“Critical to all of this is the fact that Labor doesn't truly back more Australian fuel and gas for Australians. If it did, it wouldn't stop with this policy. If the Labor Party genuinely backed in Australian gas and Australian fuel for Australians, they would actually be speeding up projects, not shutting them down and shutting them out of faster approvals under their new environmental protection regime. It's one thing for the Labor Party to congratulate themselves and pat themselves on the back for appropriating the coalition's policy for the east coast reservation scheme, but it's another when they're not prepared to match that with genuine support for the Australian gas industry. Serious fuel security means securing the whole supply chain, and that's from Australian resources in the ground to fuel reserves in storage.”
“In traditional Labor fashion, they are always last to lead in a crisis, and we have seen that being the case now. But there are still some parts of this Labor government's policy that are half-baked or that we still don't have the details on. We're not sure whether the 20 per cent obligation applies to total LNG exports, to uncontracted gas, to prospective contracts or to some combination of each. The government hasn't explained how existing contracts will be protected while still enforcing a new domestic supply obligation from exporters. The detail hasn't been clearly articulated in relation to the implementation of the east coast market strategy, and there are further questions in relation to how the scheme will increase supply, support new investment and avoid pushing smaller Australian gas companies out of the market.”
“But what instead occurred is that it's taken a crisis for this government to wake up, and it's taken the situation in the Middle East for them to come to a position in relation to our fuel reserves. Over the last four years of this government, the Prime Minister and the defence minister have, time and time again, said that Australia finds itself in the most complex and threatening strategic circumstances since the end of the Second World War, but we haven't seen the appropriate action to match those words. We haven't seen that. Everybody on this side of the Chamber understands that petrol, diesel, coal and gas all power the Australian economy, and fuel security is national security. The coalition announced our gas reservation plan many months ago, and Labor rejected it at the time.”
“This is yet another self-congratulating motion moved by the government in relation to domestic fuel and gas supply and, in particular, the gas reservation scheme that they've got for the east coast, which, might I say, we've asked for time and time again on this side of the House. I'm pleased that they've finally come to the table in part. This is in relation to leadership, because we've seen at a time—I'm speaking in relation to the fuel reserves. Labor came into government soon after COVID. The coalition had to make the tough decisions during COVID, and then COVID was nearing the end, and Labor came into office. You'd think that any reasonable government would have, in the days post COVID, done a total reassessment to identify the areas of national vulnerability.”
“Now he fears that Labor's CGT changes will punish the very discipline that we should be encouraging. Australia should reward aspiration, not tax it into exile. The coalition's position is clear: you do not fix Labor's toxic taxes with carve-outs; you axe them. Labor's budget means more debt, higher taxes, fewer homes and a government coming after the savings, investments and businesses of Australians who are trying to get ahead. And that is the difference between those on this side of the House and those opposite. Australians are sick and tired of this government treating ambition like a crime and productivity like an ATM.”
“Labor's budget sends a very clear message to Australians who work hard, save hard and take risks: if you dare to get ahead, this government is coming after you. This budget is an assault on aspiration. Small business owners have sacrificed weekends, missed family dinners and poured years of hard work into building businesses, creating jobs and backing Australia—something those opposite have no clue about. They believed effort and risk would be rewarded, but instead they're now lining up to tell me that they're preparing to shut down, move investment offshore and leave the country that they once believed in. Young savers are hearing the same message. One young worker from Currumbin Waters saved diligently and invested modestly in shares to build a future without government handouts.”
“That, ultimately, is going to determine whether or not we fail or succeed in this new multipolar, complex strategic environment.”
“But it's not just our businesses; it's also making sure we put our money where our mouth is when it comes to our veterans, when it comes to our Defence Force, when it comes to instilling a culture in this country that young Australians can be proud of and be prepared and proud to defend and to engage in the businesses that do so. Without that, partnerships will only mean so much. I say to the government take this as an opportunity to seize on the partnership and what it means. Take it as an opportunity to get that next generation interested and engaged, but also take it as an opportunity to make sure we are not just in word but in action supporting those across the country who are building the next generation of defence capability for Australia.”
“That is driving businesses in my electorate and across the southern Gold Coast, many of which do operate in the defence space, away from further innovating and building on their capabilities—capabilities that we very much need in order to be comfortable in the new strategic and security environment that Australia is facing now. I've said that the coalition supports alliances and partnerships with our democratic friends, and we have a strong history of that. We've seen it through ANZUS, through the Five Eyes, through AUKUS. Those trusted democratic relationships will be important for our own resilience. I hope that the government not only continues to talk about this but starts to act in relation to making sure that our businesses are given the best opportunity to excel in this space.”
“As has been pointed out by some of the previous speakers on this side of the chamber, we need to actually see what the government is saying here turned into action. The reality of what we've seen over the last couple of years and in particular over the last week or so since the budget is that the small businesses in Australia who are working and operating in the defence space—let alone those who may want to innovate and enter that space—are not getting the support that they need. In actual fact, they're being disadvantaged and deterred from continuing to do well in that space. We've seen that most notably with the recent changes to the CGT.”
“We will support such cooperation with democratic partners because, as I've said, the strategic environment we're finding ourselves in is shifting and it's deteriorating rapidly. Like-minded democracies must work together. The point I'd make is that partnerships are not enough. We need to make sure that we have the domestic preparedness to stand on our own two feet as well. Whilst we should be working towards partnerships, whether of an economic or of a political nature, we should also make sure that our investment in our local defence capabilities is second to none. This motion speaks to 'the government's commitment to continue to provide new international opportunities for Australian businesses at the cutting edge of defence technology and innovation'.”
“I rise today to speak on this motion in relation to the signing of the Australia-European Union Security and Defence Partnership. The world is changing. Across the world, we are seeing some quite significant shifts. Australia finds itself facing the most consequential shift in our international circumstances since the First Fleet arrived in 1788. As such, we as a country need to be capable of finding our feet in a new and shifting world order, and that looks like a multi-polar world order. We need to accept that our relationships with various allies have shifted and changed and will evolve in the future. As such, our security response must shift, change and evolve as well. We will always benefit from having more trusted friends. That's why the coalition supports stronger cooperation between Australia and the European Union.”
“Older Australians are the ones who built this country and they are the ones who are most vulnerable right now. I've said it before. We'll call it out for what it is. It's a government that has lost control of the economic narrative. They've lost control of the economy and they're trying to recover money from older Australians, who are the most vulnerable. Just keep in mind as well that every older Australian who is forced to drop their private health insurance will actually put more pressure on an already stretched public system. Shame on this government. We are going to stand up for older Australians and make sure that we hold this government to account.”
“Margaret from Coolangatta says that she and her husband need to make a choice to cancel private health insurance for one of them and pray that the other one who no longer has cover doesn't experience any new health conditions as the cost could be fatal. We can't allow people who've worked hard, paid their taxes and contributed to Australia to be forced into a position where they have to choose between cutting back on groceries, putting petrol in the car, paying the power bill and keeping their private health insurance that they rely on. Those opposite should be hanging their heads in shame, because these are our parents and grandparents and they do not deserve this. A government that has run out of money is going after them. That's not the way to do it.”
“It shows that only 18.8 per cent of respondents said that they could afford any increase to their private health insurance cost, that 31.4 per cent intend to cancel their private health insurance altogether, and that an additional 40 per cent say they might have to cancel their private health insurance. The same survey showed that older Australians rely on private health insurance for a range of often very serious conditions. Patricia from Merrimac has already had to cancel her home, contents and car insurance and says that this increase to her fees says that she won't be able to eat properly. Susan from Robina says that she's already living week to week and, at her age, needs private health insurance more than ever. She's having trouble sleeping, worrying about how much her bills are increasing under this Labor government.”
“The average age of a person covered by private health insurance in McPherson is 63, and 47.72 per cent of admitted patients who used private health insurance were aged 65 to 84. These are our most vulnerable Australians. Cutting that rebate is going to hurt around 3.2 million older Australians. But it's not just hurting them; it's hurting their families—it's hurting the young people that are looking after them. And, as for all those who are in that ageing bracket below the age of 65, it's going to hurt them as well. My survey has had nearly 1,500 respondents. Let's have a look at what it shows.”
“Under Labor, health costs have risen by around 17 per cent. This pressure is not abstract, because, as I've said, we ran a survey of McPherson residents over 65 and found that a significant proportion have experienced repeated increases in the cost of private health insurance over the last four years under this government. This is a government that should be easing that pressure, not forcing these residents to pay more for the health care that they need. Australians over the age of 65 on fixed incomes, or those who rely on the aged pension, often are the ones who have the greatest healthcare needs, and they have those needs increasingly as they age. And those are the Australians that depend on the private health insurance system.”
“Today I rise because too many older Australians are facing a choice: the choice between private health insurance and the basic necessities. I stand here today to give voice to the more than 1,368—and counting—older Australians who have reached out to my office to express their concerns, their frustration and their fears. This government is forcing more people to make the choice between private health insurance and the basic necessities of life. And let's call this for what it is. This is a government that is punishing those who do not vote for them. It's a government that is punishing the older Australians who have worked so hard for this country and who have secured their own future and structured their retirement in a way to make sure that they have a comfortable retirement, and who, now, are seeing the rules change.”
“I move: That this House: (1) notes the Government's decision to cut the private health insurance rebate for Australians over 65, which will significantly increase health costs for older Australians during a cost of living crisis; (2) recognises analysis showing couples over 65 with gold cover could face an additional $1,614 in costs from April 2027, representing a record increase in private health insurance costs; (3) condemns the Government for targeting older Australians and pensioners on fixed incomes, forcing many to either pay substantially more or abandon their private health cover altogether; (4) expresses concern that this policy will place even greater pressure on already stretched public hospitals, leading to longer elective surgery waitlists, increased ambulance ramping and worse patient outcomes; and (5) calls on the Government to immediately reverse these rebate cuts, release the modelling underpinning the decision, and protect older Australians from further cost of living pressures and declining access to healthcare.”