TRUDY MCINTOSH:
Australians are being urged to check the fine print before signing up for new subscriptions this new year. Joining me live now is the Assistant Treasurer, Stephen Jones. It’s a cost‑of‑living trap, one you want people to watch out for.
STEPHEN JONES:
Absolutely. As New Year kicks in, lots of Australians will be taking out New Year’s resolutions to join up to a gym, to learn a new language, to broaden their mind. And whether it’s a streaming service, a language program or whether it’s a gym membership, lots of fine print. We have announced that we’re going to crack down on what we call subscription traps. These are the contracts and the means of using technology and business programs that make it almost impossible for people to – very easy to get into a service and almost impossible to get out.
We’re going to introduce new laws this year which ban that sort of practice. Very common in gym memberships, very common in online subscriptions, meal delivery services, all of these sorts of things. Lots of complaints from consumers as we’ve done the consultation over the last few months that say they want to get out. They’re finding it very difficult to unsubscribe from their services. Big front door, almost invisible back door. And that’s what we’ve got to change. So, keeping, making sure consumers are on notice about these traps before we change the law. A call out to business. They don’t have to wait.
MCINTOSH:
Yeah. More details on our top story emerging about that ISIS‑inspired killer in the United States. A pretty shocking attack in the last 24 hours or so. We’re seeing the former Home Affairs boss, Mike Pezzullo today warning that ISIS, amongst other terror groups, is going to try and exploit anger over the Middle East in particular, here at home. Do you think the government’s done enough to try and ensure that level of community cohesion and prevent that sort of terror taking hold here again?
JONES:
Of course, this is an appalling attack overnight. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of the victims in New Orleans. We’re doing everything we can, everything that is possible to ensure we keep Australians safe, including ensuring that we are on a daily basis being tapped into the best intelligence that’s available here in Australia and around the world. Of course, we take and we act on the best advice from our, our intelligence agencies and that’s what we’ll continue to be doing.
MCINTOSH:
And Stephen, we know in full swing, I reckon, in the lead up to the next federal election, it seems like Medicare is shaping up as one of the big re‑election pitches from Labor. We saw more details this morning though, in the Nine newspapers, despite that record investment being thrown in to encourage doctors to bulk bill, the percentage of adults who are actually getting bulk billed GP visits have dropped. We show the numbers here, 80 per cent in 2022. It’s dropped to around 69 per cent in October of last year. How do you plan on turning that around? A lot’s been done for kids and concession holders, but what about that big bulk in the middle who are struggling to see the doctor at a cheap enough rate?
JONES:
Yeah, critical issue. Peter Dutton and the Coalition tried to kill Medicare and they nearly succeeded. Over the last 2 and a half years, we’ve been doing everything we can to put the pieces back together again. Our priority has been pensioners and has been children, so the under 18s and kids. And we’ve succeeded in turning the ship around in that area. We’ve also invested in Urgent Care Clinics which mean that hundreds of thousands of bulk bill appointments are being done every week for those urgent types of medical treatment that are needed. More needs to be done, more will need to be done. Peter Dutton is the biggest risk to us continuing to rebuild Medicare. They tried to kill it in government. They will again if they win government. Really critical. We can’t do it all in one term, which is why we need another term to ensure that we can rebuild and continue the process of fixing Medicare.
MCINTOSH:
But is the government open to extending those bulk billing incentives not just those, you know, for kids and concession holders, but that, that vast bulk of people in the middle? We saw, you know, reports today, people are putting off going to the doctor because they can’t find one that they can get a bulk billed appointment at.
JONES:
Always looking for ways to strengthen and deepen the Medicare safety net. And we will continue to do that, which is why we have already invested in those pensioners and the young Australians, we’re looking for what else we can do for the vast number of Australians in the middle. The Urgent Care Clinics are a part of that. And you know, Minister Mark Butler is working really hard with his colleagues in the health portfolio to look at what else can be done. And we’ll have more to say about that over the months ahead.
MCINTOSH:
Yeah, we’ll watch that closely. As to whether there’s any election announcements in that space. I wanted to ask you as well, inflation back down in the September quarter to 2.8 per cent, that headline figure, we know the RBA does look at underlying inflation, which is still out of the band, but do you think Australians should see interest rate relief before the election, given that headline figure is back into the target range?
JONES:
Well, I won’t start giving lectures to the Reserve Bank on what they should or shouldn’t be doing in their first meetings in this year. But what I can say is we’ve seen, because of government action and concerted effort, we have seen both headline and underlying inflation coming down significantly. They’re now well over half what they were when we came into office. So, what we’re doing is working. We want to see Australians get relief. We’ve been providing cost‑of‑living relief where we can, but, of course, the big issue for so many Australians is their mortgage payments. And of course, we want to see pressure coming off there as well.
MCINTOSH:
Well, Assistant Treasurer it was worth a try, I always try and get you to give some advice to the Reserve Bank, even if you won’t. Thank you. Appreciate your time.
JONES:
Good to be with you, Trudy.