Tuesday, 15 October 2024

 Georgie CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (18:42): (1174) My question again is to the Treasurer, and it is in relation to the GP payroll tax. I have raised this issue a number of times in the house, as many of you are aware, but this issue is not going away for general practitioners in Victoria, who are going to be slugged with this tax next year. The government has given a slight reprieve, but I recently met with the Primary Care Business Council, and we were discussing just what the impacts of the payroll tax or the patient tax will be when this is applied to general practice. I note that the Albanese government is trying to work through the issues in primary health care and the primary health care sector, and when the state payroll tax is applied it will really threaten the federal agenda; there is no doubt about that. It will have an impact on the capacity for bulk-billing, as the model will not suit bulk-billing – bulk-billing will not be viable.

What I have been told is that the Primary Care Business Council has warned that the cost of patients attending emergency departments instead of paying a high gap fee will far outweigh the benefit of payroll tax revenue to the government. In fact they told me that an expected 800,000 more patients would present to emergency departments across the state instead of visiting a GP. They really do need that continuity of care. It is critical that we have that continuity of care, and that is why I am very supportive of GPs and the amazing work that they do. But when Victorians cannot afford to go to the GP and they instead go to an emergency department, the increase in fees would total around $522 million per year, compared to a potential payroll tax revenue of just around $100 million, according to the PCBC.

Already, as we know, we have got overcrowded emergency departments, we have got ambulance ramping, we have got the terrible situation where paramedics have to go in and resuscitate patients because there are not enough staff in our EDs, and our hospitals, which are cash strapped, are under huge threat by the Allan Labor government and the ongoing financial mismanagement of this state and the pressures it is putting on our health system. Why they would prioritise the Suburban Rail Loop over getting our health system up and running is beyond me. But those are the priorities of Labor, and they are wrong. I again am very, very concerned about the flow-on effects that this payroll tax will have on GP clinics, and many will be forced to close. The action I seek is for the Treasurer to confirm whether they can provide details of any analysis the government has done on payroll tax and the ongoing viability of general practices.