Tim Watts (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Since the May budget, my office has been inundated with calls from constituents outraged by the Abbott government's GP tax and prescription fee hike. People are in total disbelief that this government could so cruelly betray those people who voted for it so soon after the last election. The Prime Minister has broken his promise of no new taxes with his $7 GP tax, which will see families charged with $3.5 billion in out-of-pocket costs—a hit to the most vulnerable of Australians. On top of this, the government's fee on prescriptions will make medicines more expensive and add $1.26 billion to families' budgets.

The longer-term costs of these changes will drastically outweigh any short-term savings they bring. Instead of encouraging Australians to seek treatment early, the GP tax will motivate them to wait until greater complications or sickness arise, increasing hospitalisation and costing the system, taxpayers and patients more in the long term. The only people who want these changes are the Abbott government and their Commission of Audit. Countless health academics have advised against this tax, yet the government is pushing ahead with it anyway. This appears to be but the first step in the Liberal Party's plan to dismantle Medicare.

Let it be known that we on this side of the House will continue to fight the government against their attacks on universal health care in this country. Tony Abbott was elected promising no cuts to health and no new taxes, but these promises have both been smashed. He has broken his promise of no new taxes with this $7 GP tax and is forcing Australians to pay $5 more for each and every prescription. Australian families should not have to pay for the fibs, fictions, falsehoods, fabrications and furphies told by the Prime Minister before the last election.