Pat Conaghan (Cowper, National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to again speak about regional health care. Getting an appointment with a GP in my electorate has never been more difficult than it is today. An influx of population coupled with GPs reaching retirement age and the changes to the distribution priority areas have resulted in untenable numbers of people attending the emergency department out of pure desperation. Bulk-billing rates are the lowest we have seen in my electorate, with Cleanbill recently finding that not one regular GP practice offers bulk-billing to all patients and only a handful continue to bulk-bill for existing pensioners. We are yet to see any positive flow-on from the tripling of the Medicare incentive.

I met with a local GP, Dr Debra King, last week. She runs three practices in my electorate on the Mid North Coast with her husband. She was extremely concerned about the new payroll tax burden that is being placed on New South Wales GPs next financial year. This unnecessary tax will completely wipe out any benefit that the boost to the Medicare rebate has given and cause multiple practices around the regions to close. I urge everyone in New South Wales to put pressure on the Minns government to prevent this impending burden on our already stretched GP practices. We simply cannot afford to lose more GPs.