http://www.thepunch.com.au/author-bios/tanya-plibersek/ Tanya Plibersek was appointed to Minister for Health on 14 December 2011.  Tanya was elected to the Australian Parliament as the Federal Member for Sydney at the 1998 federal election. Tanya became a Shadow Minister after the 2004 federal election and for the next three years was responsible for a range of portfolios including childcare, work and family, women, youth, human services and housing. Following the election of the Labor Government in 2007, Tanya was appointed Minister for Housing and Minister for the Status of Women. As Minister for Housing, Tanya delivered a wide ranging reform agenda, including significant new investments in affordable rental housing. Tanya was also responsible for a Homelessness White Paper that set out a comprehensive national strategy to tackle homelessness in Australia. As Minister for the Status of Women, Tanya was responsible for development of the National Plan to Reduce Violence Against Women and their Children. Following the 2010 federal election Tanya was appointed Minister for Human Services and Minister for Social Inclusion. Tanya lives in Sydney with her husband Michael and 3 children. en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/counterpunch-means-testing-about-fairness/ Bronwyn Bishop’s attack in yesterday’s Punch on the Government’s proposed means testing of the private health insurance rebate claims that people earning less than $50,000 will be the worst off. This is completely false. People earning $50,000 or less will be among the 8 million health insurance policy holders that will not be affected by means testing at all. They won’t lose a dollar. Mrs Bishop should stop scaring pensioners. Currently all families and individuals who pay private health insurance premiums are eligible for a rebate of at least 30 per cent on the cost of their insurance. It doesn’t matter how much you earn, you still receive the rebate. That money comes from the taxes of every working Australian. At the moment the same people that Bronwyn Bishop claims to care about are subsidising the rebate being paid to millionaires. They’re subsidising her private health insurance rebate and mine. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tanya Plibersek) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/counterpunch-means-testing-about-fairness/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/counterpunch-means-testing-about-fairness/#item7598 Tue, 24 Jan 2012 19:50:06 +0000 Tanya Plibersek | Author bios | The Punch