Page 945 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 30 March 1993
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MR BERRY: She says that that is not true. It is true. Mrs Carnell has repeatedly provided misleading information to the community about the issue of funding for Medicare. The Federal Liberals made it clear that, had they won the last election, they would have cut all State hospital funding grants over the medium to short term. I know that we do not have to worry. I thought, after having listened to Gary Humphries a couple of times on the radio, that one of the big jobs would be to attach all this baggage to the Liberals; but Mrs Carnell has proved that it is going to be an easy job because she has never put the baggage down. That is good news for the people of the ACT because they will be able to distinguish clearly between the people who would destroy the public hospital system and the people who will preserve it. I am quite happy about that because, as one of the people who earn above the average income, I pay more. I am one of the people who pay more than people who are on the average income. Paul Keating pays even more than I do. He pays even more than I do because 1.4 per cent of $50,000 is a lot more money than 1.4 per cent of $25,000.
Let us drop the lie about rich people not paying more than those who are not so well off. What stings those who are well off most is that they have to pay more. They have to assist the people at the bottom end of the income scale with the extra funds that they put in. So Paul Keating is happily paying more and making a contribution to the well-being of those who are not so well off. I am happy about Paul Keating's contribution and I am happy about paying more. Indeed, I am happy with the increase of the Medicare levy to 1.4 per cent. In fact, it could possibly be increased a tad more and it would not bother me. Neither would it bother the ordinary person in the street because they would be getting better value. Only the rich people that Mrs Carnell seeks to represent do not like paying this. People who are earning hundreds of thousands of dollars a year have to pay the Medicare - - -
Mr Westende: It is cheap insurance either way.
MR BERRY: Indeed. Lou Westende, you can get emergency treatment, no matter how rich you are, out at Woden Valley Hospital, but you have to pay more than the ordinary person down the street - and that is fair enough, too.
Mr Westende: I pay more. It is cheap insurance either way.
MR BERRY: Indeed, it is. I wish Mrs Carnell agreed with you.
Mr Cornwell: I wish the Prime Minister did.
MR BERRY: Well, he pays more.
Mrs Carnell: But he does not pay enough.
MR BERRY: He pays more. Under the Liberals the people on the high end of the income scale would pay private health insurance and not pay the levy, and therefore they would be better off.
Mrs Carnell: The Liberal Party supports the levy. That is just mere trivia.
MR BERRY: A lower part of the levy. That is until after the election. We know where the Liberals are coming from. Clearly, they intended to cut all the funding to the State hospital system, to force people into private hospital insurance where ordinary - - -
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