John Roskam from the Institute of Public Affairs highlights the failures of the fourth estate to hold our politicians (and other institutions) to account.
Kevin Rudd once proclaimed climate change as ‘the great moral dilemma of our time’. It is clear that these were just more empty words from the most loquacious Prime Minister in our history.
How else can one explain why he has chosen not to pursue his rotten corpse of a policy known as the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme?
Instead, as parliament resumed this week, Mr Rudd decided that breaking one of his election promises was more important.
In this instance, I am referring to the private health insurance rebate that Kevin Rudd repeatedly committed not to change. Clearly Mr Rudd was hoping that the millions of Australians taking responsibility for their own health care by paying for private health insurance wouldn’t remember his empty words.
Despite his rhetoric that the private health insurance rebate would remain untouched, Rudd now wants to impose higher costs on millions of Australians with private health insurance.
The impact of the Rudd changes will inevitably lead to people dropping out of private health insurance and an increased burden on the public hospital system. Those who will be forced to drop private insurance and rely on Medicare may be forced to pay an increased Medicare levy surcharge. This is an additional tax burden on many Australian families.
Of course, as more people drop out of private health the premiums for those who remain will be forced to rise.
In short, this is another Rudd policy that impacts negatively on almost everyone it affects.
So why are they pursuing it? The answer is money – or lack of it. Labor’s outrageous and irresponsible spending of taxpayers’ money has created a desperate need for cash. This means higher taxes for anyone and anything that Labor have an ideological bent against. Private health insurance is just one such area.
So as Mr Rudd appears to be ditching ‘the great moral issue of our time’ he appears to be creating another one.
His new moral dilemma is how can he break an election promise and also claim to be honouring his promises to the electorate?
Cory Bernardi is the author of seven books and has been a member of the Australian rowing team, a publican, an investment portfolio manager and spent nearly 14 years as an Australian Senator.
