Senator McLUCAS (5:51 PM) —This is a very unfortunate day. The passing of the Health Insurance Amendment (Medicare Safety-nets) Bill 2005 is a very disappointing result for Australians. The passing of this legislation proves the untruth that was put to the Australian people at the last election. Minister Abbott knew from at least July 2004 that the safety nets that he had declared were going to stay—with a rock-solid ironclad guarantee—were unsustainable; yet he persevered. He continued to say that they would not change. But Mr Abbott was not the only one who knew that; it is our contention that there were many members of cabinet who understood that. Certainly, in my view, the Minister for Finance and Administration and the Treasurer knew that those safety nets would have to change.

But they did not come clean with the Australian community. Why? Because it was going to affect a million people in Australia. There are one million people who were given to understand that they would be covered by the $300 and $500 safety nets, and they have been duped. By moving this amendment today, the government will ensure that one million Australians will now not be covered by this safety net. This is peeling back the cover and finding out the truth. This is showing that Mr Abbott actually knew—he knew—that these safety nets were unsustainable.

Labor has always expressed concern about the introduction of the safety nets, at whatever level they were set. We have said that they undermine the fundamental principle of universality. We have said that they would be inflationary and, yes, they were—particularly in obstetrics. We have said that they will develop two tiers of health consumers—those who fit into the safety nets and those who do not. That has all been proved to be true.

We also said, after the government did a deal with the minor parties in this chamber, that those thresholds would be unsustainable. Certainly, health commentators agreed with that, and slowly the media cottoned on that the blow-out was occurring. If those safety nets had stayed at the same rate, there would have been a $1.2 billion cost in safety nets over four years, at those levels. Yes, they were unsustainable, but the reason that the Labor Party will vote against this legislation is because the government did not come clean with the Australian community from the period of June 2004 until the election.

The government spent $20 million telling people how they were going to be eligible for the safety nets, who would be eligible and how they would apply. It is very interesting that the government have not signalled that they are going to spend an equal amount of money now that they have moved the safety net thresholds back to the $1,000 and $500 marks. It is interesting that they are now not going to spend the same amount of money explaining to one million Australians why they are going to miss out. Labor will be opposing this legislation and Labor will, on coming to government, I assure the minister, introduce legislation that absolutely supports the universality of Medicare.