From yesterday, and I would say after the by-election by the last two lines.
JOURNALIST: Can I just quickly ask about health insurance. I just want to ask how much you expect health insurance premiums to go up by, and when you're going to make that decision. BUTLER: I'm going through a proper process and I've gone back to the industry and indicated my expectation they sharpen their pencil. This has always been a process where government should have consumers at the front of their mind. We're going through a very difficult cost of living crisis that swept the world over the last couple of years. And I'm not going to do a tick and flick that simply approves the first claims that are put to the insurance industry. Now, I saw your paper’s story this morning, Sarah. And I'd say with respect, that if there's a “row” about this, it's a “row” between the Australian newspaper and the private health insurance industry - which has come out this morning and said that your story was a beat up, that it was a complete fiction. It is not unusual at all for these decisions to be made in the last week of February or the first weeks of March. In the Howard Government, that was the custom: the last week of February or the first two weeks of March were the customary times for these decisions to be made. In the Howard Government, in the Rudd Government in the Gillard government. Sussan Ley, when she was Health Minister, made the decision in March and announced that. Now I recognise that Greg Hunt typically made these decisions earlier than all of his predecessors. But it is not unusual for Government to really press the private health insurance industry to come up with a better number. And, frankly, to their credit, the private health insurance industry this morning has recognised that that is the job of government. This is the usual process that we're following. Now, of course, I want to make sure that the industry has as much time as possible to communicate the ultimate decision I make. But my overwhelming objective is to get the best deal for consumers. And I make no apology for that.
