Transcript: Interview with Matt Stephens, ABC Riverland - 19 February 2026

TRANSCRIPT

INTERVIEW WITH MATT STEPHENS, ABC RIVERLAND

19 February 2026

Topics: Liberal leadership, private health insurance premium rise, private health sector

E&OE…………………………………

MATT STEPHENS: Now, premiums for private health are going up. Before half past seven, you heard from Private Healthcare Australia and how the increases have come about – two  increases over two years, 3.7 percent last year and 4.4 percent this year. It's a lot. This has the potential to put more pressure on the health system, which is already struggling in a lot of aspects. Just ask anyone who's waiting for an appointment or worse a procedure for something that isn't minor. Anne Ruston is the Shadow Minister for Aged Care and a Senator for South Australia. Anne, good morning. 

ANNE RUSTON: Good morning, Matt. 

MATT STEPHENS: Before we get to health insurance, were you surprised to receive a seat on the Liberal front bench after the leadership spill last week? 

ANNE RUSTON: Well, I was delighted because I've really enjoyed my opportunity to do things in health and aged care over the last three and a half years. So, the chance to be able to keep prosecuting this area, which is just so important to so many Australians, and the fact that I'm on this morning talking about the challenges that are facing the private health system goes to that point. So, yeah, I'm absolutely delighted to be still on the front bench, but still having the opportunity to deal with issues that are important to Australians. 

MATT STEPHENS: Do you support Angus Taylor and his visions for the party and policies? 

ANNE RUSTON: Look, I have always been a team player. I believe in the Liberal Party and I believe in the values of the Liberal Party and, of course, I support my leader. I always have. Angus has really hit the ground running and I'm really looking forward to doing what the Australian public expect of us all, and that is to focus on the issues that matter to them. I know that's what Angus is focused on and that's exactly what I'm going to be focused on, as I always have been. 

MATT STEPHENS: Watching from here, it's felt like the Liberal Party has lost its way. I mean, especially seeing the rise in popularity of One Nation. Does that give you any cause for concern for the upcoming elections around the country? 

ANNE RUSTON: The most important thing, I think, that we can do as the Liberal Party is to continue to prosecute the issues that matter to Australians. And, quite frankly, I believe there are only two main parties of government, the one that's currently in power – the Labor Party – and the Liberal Party, or more generally across Australia, the Coalition, but here in South Australia, the Liberal Party. They're the only two parties with the capacity to be able to provide government. And I really believe that Ashton Hurn is doing an amazing job here in South Australia, prosecuting an alternative to the Labor Government here. And I know that our listeners – you know, Tim Whetstone has always been a formidable force on behalf of the Riverland in the Parliament and on behalf of the people of our community. So, I absolutely believe that the Liberal Party is the answer to the challenges that we're facing that the Labor Party are dishing out to Australians every day – higher prices, increasing inflation. Today, higher prices for their private health insurance on top of everything else that's putting pressure on the family budget. 

MATT STEPHENS: Anne Ruston is Shadow Minister for Aged Care and a Senator for South Australia. Let's get on to private health premiums then. Another increase, this time higher than last year. Can people really be expected to cop this? 

ANNE RUSTON: Well, that's the thing that really worries me is that this constant pressure on the family budget – and it's not just private health premiums, it's everything else that's going up, whether it be your insurance or your mortgage, your grocery bills. Everything's going up, which is adding pressure to everyday Australians' family budgets, and the first thing that will go will be their private health insurance because it's not immediately necessary – it only becomes necessary when you need to use it. So that means the 15 million Australians who currently have private health insurance will be pushed towards an already overburdened public system. We've seen the worst ramping in South Australia ever, 50,000 hours last year. Waiting lists for elective surgery, as you rightly pointed out in your introduction, are so long. People are getting chronically ill waiting to get surgeries, and older Australians are stuck in hospitals because there is no place for them in aged care homes or access to home care packages. So, this is a catastrophe if we see Australians with private health insurance move away from private health insurance and move to the public system. 

MATT STEPHENS: We spoke to Rachel David, the Chief Executive Officer of Private Health Care Australia before half past seven this morning, and she was saying that the cost for providers has gone up, for the health professionals themselves have increased, which has prompted this increase in private health premiums. Is it really fair for the end user to be paying for that when health in this country for most people over the years has been something that hasn't been this expensive? Sorry, that was a roundabout question, but do you get where I'm coming from there, Senator? 

ANNE RUSTON: Yeah, no, look, absolutely. But the private health sector and private hospitals are no different than any other business around the country. They're feeling the impact of rising inflation. And, in fact, health inflation is way higher than normal inflation. And I think Rachel made the comment that hospital inflation particularly is over 5%. This increase is 4.4%. So all that is seeking to be done by the insurers and the hospitals is to make sure that they are sufficiently profitable, that they can keep going. But the cause of this problem is the mismanagement of our economy. If we didn't have inflation rates where they were, if we hadn't had every single cost continuing to go up at an incredibly quick rate, the hospitals wouldn't be suffering the same sort of inflationary impact as everybody else is. We need to get inflation back under control. We need get our economy back operating within a band that is sustainable in order for these continuing price rises not to be hitting families every single day of the week. 

MATT STEPHENS: Anne Ruston is Shadow Minister for Aged Care - Health and Aged Care I should say - and Senator for South Australia as well. I know this is a big part of Federal Labor's election campaign, but is there merit to reforming Medicare so we don't have to worry about private health at all? 

ANNE RUSTON: Well, I've always been an absolutely strong believer, as I know many in Australia have been, that a strong and balanced partnership between private and public in the health sector is what has meant that Australia has been the envy of the world in terms of our health system, because it gives Australians choice. I mean, one of the things that I think we pride ourselves on in our Australian way of life is the fact that Australians have choice, and that's what the private health sector - [interrupted]. 

MATT STEPHENS: I'll let you clear your throat there. Anne Ruston, Senator for South Australia, discussing private health insurance premiums today. I'll go again. You're right now? 

ANNE RUSTON: Yeah, so I think the strength of the Australian health system is that private-public partnership that gives Australians choice about how they access their healthcare. And so, I'm a firm believer in a very strong public-private partnership in the health system. It has stood us very well for many, many years and I would be absolutely horrified if the Government chose to pursue a system that denied Australians their choice about access to healthcare. I absolutely support a strong, underpinning public health system for all Australians, so every Australian can get access to a high-quality healthcare system, but I would not support denying Australians the choice of having private healthcare if they chose to. 

MATT STEPHENS: The obvious – it has stood us in good stead over the years, I'll agree with that – but obviously it's not working now. So what is the solution? We can't just keep going down the same road. 

ANNE RUSTON: Well, I think part of the solution has got to be that we actually look under the bonnet of what's going wrong and causing the challenges in the private health system and actually do something about them. You know, we know that there are many levers that occur, many interventions by the Federal Government, I might say, that are having an impact on how our private health system works. I mean, if you listen to somebody like Rachel David that you had on earlier this morning, you know, I would guarantee you that between Rachel, the private hospital sector, our clinicians that support the private sector, our med tech industries – if you sat down and actually got them to make sure that they designed the private health sector so that it was working in an effective and efficient way, we could have the greatest private health sector again in this country. It is the interventions of the Government and the way the Government is treating the private health sector at the moment that I think is causing the problems. 

MATT STEPHENS: Anne Ruston, thanks for your time this morning. 

ANNE RUSTON: My pleasure, thanks Matt. 

ENDS