View the recording of this speech here.
Record of Proceedings, 11 September 2024
We now know whose side the ALP is on in this debate. It is not the side of patients and it is not the side of doctors; it is the side of the lawyers, the accountants, the tax advisers and everybody else who will be paid fees by GPs to restructure their practices to avoid a tax. This tax will come about because of the two rulings in this motion: the first that imposed a tax on GPs and then another one which provides them a way out with an exemption, but only if they restructure their business. It costs money to restructure businesses. It costs a lot of money sometimes. That is money that GPs do not have because some of them are operating on the thinnest of margins when it comes to profitability, especially in rural and regional Queensland. We know the side that the ALP is on and it is not the side of patients and it is not the side of GPs, especially not in rural and regional Queensland.
Sometimes we refer to the laggards of Australia’s economy—sometimes it might be Queensland, sometimes Tasmania and other times South Australia—as the sick man of Australia. I think some members opposite might be needing to see a GP soon, because they are suffering in a very perverse way from Munchausen syndrome by proxy. They are trying to claim the credit for putting in place a fix for a problem they allowed to be created in the first place.
They need to not talk about the exemption; they need to get rid of the GP tax. Cameron Dick, the Treasurer of Queensland, should walk into this chamber and categorically rule out the exemption finishing in July 2025 and change the rules. The Labor Party likes to talk about changing the rules. A few years ago that was a union campaign. Let’s change the rules and get rid of the patient tax. It is not just me who calls it a patient tax; I have a letter from Cornerstone Health in which they talk about the patient tax that will ensure people are $20 out of pocket for every GP visit. That is $20 that many people simply cannot afford. I remember the hoo-ha a few years ago when the Abbott government talked about introducing a co-payment of $7 to visit a GP for certain people. It was not even for everyone; it was only for people who did not have a healthcare card. The ALP all over the country cried bloody murder they would be charged $7 to visit a GP.
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER (Mr Kelly): Pause the clock. I ask you to withdraw that unparliamentary language.
I withdraw and apologise—blue murder! A few years ago the ALP said that $7 was too much. Cornerstone Health says that $20 could be the out-of-pocket cost if this GP tax goes ahead. Instead of allowing a problem to be created and then claiming credit for creating an exemption to it, just get rid of the problem.
There are many GPs in the Scenic Rim electorate who will be seriously affected by this. There are a couple of bulk-billing practices around, and the GPs tell me that if this is implemented they will not be able to bulk-bill anymore. Perhaps even worse, it will threaten the overall viability of their practices from Beaudesert to Tamborine Mountain, from Boonah to Kalbar and into Ipswich as well.
We have a public health system under stress. There is record ramping across the state—over 50 per cent at Ipswich Hospital and it is very high at Logan and Gold Coast hospitals. What will patients do if they cannot see a GP because they are not bulk billing or they have gone broke? They will go to our public hospitals. The problem created by Labor’s patient tax will make our ramping worse. It will make our emergency department wait times worse. There is a simple solution: not tax our GPs. Change the rules when it comes to payroll tax: exempt GPs. Get rid of the patient tax and take the burden off Queenslanders who are already suffering enough in the cost-of-living crisis created by members opposite and the Albanese federal Labor government. The best way to do that is to show Labor the door in October 2024.