Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Government Business in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you. We now perhaps get to the nub of the question, which, finally, is a health question. It is interesting to note that the opposition are now crying wolf again. Mr Dutton predicted, of course, last year that a million people who would leave the private health insurance industry. Has that come to fruition? I suspect that the opposition are again making false claims which will wither on the vine. The opposition, of course, try to make the point, but we have changed our policy because the private health insurance rebate was becoming unsustainable. The opposition know that and understand that. In addition to that, when a budget has taken a $200 billion hit as a result of the biggest global financial crisis since the Great Depression, the government are taking decisive action to ensure that it is sustainable. The government are making important structural reforms in this area— (Time expired)