Mr EMERSON (12:26 PM) —The proposal for a 30 per cent rebate for private health insurance is just a another step in the deliberate and staged program to dismantle Medicare by stealth. The stages are as follows: stage 1, starve the public hospital system of funding, bring it into disrepair and disrepute; stage 2, make private health insurance more attractive by subsidising it; stage 3, create a two-tiered health system—a third-rate public system and a heavily subsidised private system; and stage 4, if the private health funds want more money, increase the subsidies further. But, like the government's other privatisation policies, including the privatised Job Network, the privatisation of the Australian health system by this government has one distinguishing feature: it is an abysmal failure.

The policy of dismantling Medicare is one that has been dear to the heart of the Prime Minister for more than a decade. I refer to the Prime Minister's statement back in 1987. He said: `What I am going to do is take a scalpel, without punning too much, to Medicare.'

Dr Kemp —Mr Deputy Speaker—

Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER (Mr Quick) —Order! The member for Rankin will resume his seat. I call the minister.

Mr EMERSON —Mr Deputy Speaker, this is an outrage.

Dr Kemp —There is an agreement between the government and the opposition on this.

Motion (by Dr Kemp) put:

That the question be now put.