Jane Prentice (Ryan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Australian Hearing has been catering to the needs of Australians with hearing problems since World War II and is still going strong despite the competition from other providers. With its associated research partner, the National Acoustics Laboratory, Australian Hearing is rightfully recognised as the No. 1 hearing service provider in Australia. Selling the government's share, as suggested by the National Commission of Audit, would not change the preeminent market position Australian Hearing currently holds.

But the fact is the government has not made any decision on the future ownership options of Australian Hearing. As suggested in the National Commission of Audit Report, the government is investigating the possibility of privatising Australian Hearing and has taken on the recommendation of the commission to engage in a scoping study regarding this serious issue.

Australian Hearing has stayed at the top of the hearing providers in Australia despite the fact hearing services have become subject to the issuing of a voucher which could be used by eligible people at any hearing service of their choice. This points strongly to the quality of the service and products provided by Australian Hearing.

I understand the idea of privatising a government owned service can be a tough pill to swallow but there are other things to consider as part of this debate. Australian Hearing, according to the National Commission of Audit, holds a monopoly on certain parts of the hearing market. In our country, monopolies are illegal. Other providers are excluded from competing against Australian Hearing and this may well be inflating the price of those services due to lack of competition as the member for Throsby—who has now just left us—heard during the inquiry into IT pricing. As well as freeing up some of the $13 billion currently held in government assets, privatising Australian Hearing will lead to better value for money for the government as these services become cheaper by dint of competition for business.

Currently one in six people, according to Australian Hearing, suffer some form of hearing loss. As our population ages and people are living longer, the government needs to consider how we can stretch our health dollar to benefit as many people as possible. Opening up those parts of the market which are currently protected is one way the government can get better value. This government is not proposing a stop to providing hearing vouchers to those who qualify for them. We are talking about allowing the market to do what the market does best and determine the price for those hearing related products. This is just common sense. Australian Hearing is in the strongest of market positions to continue to provide world-class services. It is doubtful that prices will rise, because there will be too much competition as less-established providers try to gain market share. As we saw in Queensland with the Newman government's successful introduction of dental vouchers, the pressure was taken off government-sponsored services as the private sector well and truly took up the slack once people could choose their own dentist, and the vast majority of these services were covered within the price of the voucher.

Success breeds success, and Australian Hearing is a very successful business. Its profit last financial year was $12.5 million—an increase of 297 per cent from the previous year. It is wrong that this or any government should own, fund and regulate Australian Hearing. The National Commission of Audit has made recommendations regarding several government-owned businesses, and Australian Hearing is just one of those businesses. It would be irresponsible for the government to ignore those recommendations and to not at least investigate the possibility of and potential for privatising Australian Hearing. With those comments, I reject the intent of this motion.

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