00:02We can be sure to say that the Health Minister, Mark Butler, he's not very happy about this.
00:06He's accused those opposing this bill in the Senate of piling on and deciding to discharge
00:13instead of debate this bill.
00:15So in the Senate, it was the Greens, the Coalition and some of the crossbench, including
00:18Jackie Lambie.
00:19And he says their decision to block this bill flies in the face of what he thought was a
00:24clear understanding across the parliament of the need to better fund aged care services.
00:28And he's blamed the new Greens leader, David Shoebridge, for this, as he says, pile on
00:34in the Senate.
00:35He says it appears to be a rush of blood to the head by the new leadership of the Greens
00:39Party.
00:39Now, this does relate to the moves by the government to cut the aged rebate that's associated with
00:46the private health care costs.
00:49So it's meant to net the government about $3 billion over four years.
00:53And the government says that would be reinvested into the aged care sector.
00:57But the issue being, the ABC revealed about a month ago that $1.6 billion of that would
01:02actually come from aged care pensioners.
01:04And that's created a lot of angst among many in the Senate in particular, and what led to
01:09this decision to ditch this bill in the Senate.
01:14The Greens leader, David Shoebridge, has accused the government of punching down on pensioners
01:18and saying that they want pensioners carved out of this legislation.
01:22Jackie Lambie has warned that if the government tries to sneak these cuts through again, the same
01:26fate will befall the next bill as well.
01:29We heard from the coalition suggesting the government avoids trying to sneak this legislation
01:35in again.
01:36The health minister remains committed to the legislation and doesn't seem to be heeding
01:40those warnings from the Senate.
01:43But let's listen to National Senator Susan MacDonald speaking on this issue a little while ago.
01:49This is an appalling attack on older Australians, people who have identified that they need
01:55additional support in health care as they get older.
01:58They have saved up.
01:59They have put money aside for private health to ensure that that will happen.
02:03The government has always provided clear signals and incentives to do that, to take pressure
02:08off the public system.
02:09And yet here we are with that premium reduction being ripped out from older Australians who
02:17are now left with more expensive health insurance at a time when they both need it, but now
02:24possibly can't afford it.
02:25So, Nicole, it's not just the private health care rebate bill that's being introduced today.
02:29We'll also see the government's digital duty of care legislation.
02:33That's right.
02:34So, Annika Wells, the communications minister, will also speak at the National Press Club
02:39today in conjunction with that speaking about this legislation.
02:43Now, this is the digital duty of care and the point of this one is that it would allow
02:47people to switch off the algorithm on their social media feeds and on their apps and it
02:52would also require tech companies to protect users from harm.
02:56And to that end, there'd be $100 million fines associated with breaches of these laws.
03:02Now, the communications minister, Annika Wells, has conceded that there was concern about
03:06who decides on what is harmful.
03:08A lot of concern from many sectors coming around freedom of speech and that it was putting
03:13too much power in the hands of a minister.
03:16The initial proposal was that that would come down to ministerial discretion.
03:20They've accepted that that was going to be a problem for this bill's path through parliament
03:25and they've changed that to be a...it will be the parliament who decides what is harmful.
03:30But Annika Wells saying that, you know, her focus is on getting this bill passed rather
03:36than some of those small details.
03:38Let's hear from her.
03:40What I am worried about is the serious harm that Australian children are suffering on
03:46online services because at the moment we have tech companies live testing their products
03:51on Australians without ever having to go through a basic safety standard.
03:54We don't expect Australian parents to crash test car seats.
03:58We expect those to be sold safely off the shelves.
04:01But at the moment there is no one safety testing these products before Australian children are
04:06putting them in their pockets and using them for hours every day.
04:08So it's about basic safety standards that every single other industry in Australia is already
04:13subject to.
04:14The Senate will send this legislation to an inquiry for reporting back in November and that's
04:23important.
04:24I will be using that inquiry to kick the tyres on the government's proposed laws and to be
04:30arguing for where we need it stronger and making sure it actually works.
04:36Now, Liberal Senator James Patterson has this morning described these laws as unsalvageable
04:42and saying that the coalition won't have a bar of it.
04:45It means the Labor will need the Greens support to get this legislation anywhere.
04:50The Greens have made clear that they want some changes.
04:52They want tougher penalties.
04:54They want a right for people to be able to sue the companies.
04:57And they also, they say that as Sarah Hanson Young said, they want this to go to an inquiry
05:02to, as she said, kick the tyres, Catherine.
05:05And they want to assume that they can feel the changes in fiscal�or or something else.
05:07They ask they how much money do they want to sue because their children can be able to
05:07be able to lose their lives in their bars.
05:07They to try to parfait their cuestions and they cannot be able to win one of them, so the
05:07public trước they don't know if this may be a number of them and all the butts they want to
05:07benefit from their employers.
05:08They usually do not be able to lose five reasons and that they can no one of them would
05:08so that they can proceed.
05:08So they can pretend to have an inquiry to this sort of regimentל military
