Nick Champion (Wakefield, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The other side do not want to hear about the GP tax; they are hiding from it. They are afraid to come into this room and talk about the budget; they would rather talk about fun runs and other worthy causes in their electorate. They do not want to talk about the GP tax. They do not want to talk about the fact that every time their constituents walk into a waiting room or get a blood test or some other service from a doctor they will be paying $7. On top of that, there are $80 billion in cuts from schools and hospitals.

This is a program to destroy Medicare. It is opposed by the Australian Medical Association, the College for Emergency Medicine, the Doctors Reform Society, the Public Health Association, the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, the Consumers Health Forum and the Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association. The other group who does not support it is the backbench of the government. Not one of them will rise in this chamber to defend this rotten tax on people every time they go to the doctor. I can tell you that the opposition will be talking about this all day, every day until election day.