SENATOR THE HON ANNE RUSTON

SHADOW MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGED CARE

DEPUTY LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION IN THE SENATE

SENATOR FOR SOUTH AUSTRALIA

TRANSCRIPT

INTERVIEW WITH CALEB BOND, NEWS24

Friday, 16 October 2026

Topics: Government policy and economic management; Coalition policy priorities; private health insurance rebates and aged care funding.

E&OE……………………………………

CALEB BOND: The cuts to private health insurance rebates for over-65s, defeated by the Coalition and the crossbench.

MINISTER MARK BUTLER: I wish I didn't have to come to the Cabinet with savings decisions like these, but there's not a magic money tree that's able to fund this huge demand for additional aged care services that I think everyone understands out there.

CALEB BOND: And as I've been talking about this week, and as I've written in The Advertiser today, I think the government is actually under some real pressure for the first time, and they're not really sure what to do about it. Joining me now is Shadow Health and Aged Care Minister Anne Ruston. Anne, good to see you from the great city of Adelaide.

It really does feel like they've been on the back foot the last two weeks in particular. I think it got worse this week. They've taken a couple of blows, and the government just… Maybe it's foreign to them at this point, but they're not sure how to handle not being on the front foot.

SENATOR ANNE RUSTON: Look, I think it's a case of the chickens coming home to roost. You know, you can't have the kind of arrogance that we've seen from this government over the last four years, where they just throw policies out there.

They don't bother consulting with the people who are going to be impacted by them. They don't mind pitting one lot of Australians against the other. And most of the policies they put out are all headlines. They haven't really put any thought behind them. They haven't done any modelling. And eventually, eventually, the veneer wears off.

And I think that's what we're starting to see now. It's plain for all Australians to see that this government, quite frankly, is not capable of governing. And hopefully Australians will start seeing very, very clearly the damage that this government has been doing over the last four years to them, to the economy, to their families, to their livelihoods, to their jobs and to this country. Whilst it was a terrible week for the government, I think it was a good week for Australia, because they got to see what really was on show.

CALEB BOND: I suppose the question now for you in the Coalition becomes how much of that can you capitalise on? Because, of course, One Nation will be trying to capitalise on it as well.

SENATOR ANNE RUSTON: I think the most important thing for us is that we need to just stick the course here. I mean, we've got a strong suite of policies that are already out in the marketplace, and we're working on more. I mean, we saw recently, you know, Jonno Duniam coming out with the migration policy. We've obviously got a strong energy policy. I think small business is going to be a very strong focus of what comes next. And, of course, I've been working on health and aged care because I know how incredibly important they are.

So I think, for the Coalition, we just need to make sure we stay focused on doing what we do really well, and that is coming up with strong economic policies to drive our economy so we can afford all the things that Australians rightly expect.

CALEB BOND: Well, on aged care, of course, the Health Minister, Mark Butler, says they need to cut the private health insurance rebate in order to give more money to aged care. That fell over this week, but he's intending to bring the bill back. What's going to change? I mean, it's the same Senate.

SENATOR ANNE RUSTON: Well, I mean, this is another classic example of the government. Older Australians in their hundreds of thousands have signed petitions around the country to say how devastating the impact of these changes would be on them. All of the stakeholders, all of the experts and, of course, everybody in the Senate, with the exception of the government, have all told the government what a terrible policy this is.

We threw it in the bin this week, and I'd be saying to Mark Butler: read the tea leaves, mate. It's in the bin. Leave it in the bin. But, you know, his claim that somehow he's got to find money for aged care—I mean, since when does a government need to rob the healthcare sector to pay for aged care? To expect pensioners… I mean, half the people who are going to be impacted by this are age pensioners. Is the government's budget so bad that they've got to go after pensioners to pay for aged care?

I mean, it's just… I think the government's in all sorts of trouble, and I just can't believe that the Minister would turn up and try to con Australians into believing that age pensioners should be the ones paying for the budget mismanagement of a terrible government.

CALEB BOND: Well, indeed. And, you know, we know they have a spending problem. But if there are areas I think people are quite happy for governments to spend money on, it's healthcare and aged care, and they'd be quite happy to see cuts elsewhere in the budget. Anne, thank you so much for joining me tonight.

ENDS