Andrew Giles (Scullin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to express my grave concern that families in Scullin will be amongst those hardest hit by the coalition's GP tax, as new Medicare analysis has shown. In 2010-11, people in Scullin accessed GP services over 980,000 times. This means that people in Scullin could be forced to fork out more than $5.9 million every year to visit the doctor if the Prime Minister breaks another election promise and introduces the GP tax. In an unprecedented attack on Medicare, the Abbott government are considering charging those Australians who can least afford it to see the doctor. This tax will hurt people who can least afford it. Many families in Scullin who are already struggling to make ends meet simply cannot afford to pay to take their sick child or elderly parent to the doctor.

Scullin has the highest bulk-billing rate of any electorate in Victoria, with 93 per cent of services bulk-billed. This means, at present, that 93 per cent of GP visits are free. A GP tax would end this. Hospital emergency departments like those at the Northern in Epping would be under greater pressure as people avoid seeing a GP because of the cost. This is yet another example of a government that knows the cost of everything and the value of nothing. Unconcerned with preventative health or indeed continuing the great work that has been done to enable more people to access bulk-billed GP services, Labor will continue to fight for healthy communities and any attempt by this government to dismantle universal health care in Australia.