Page 3323 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 20 August 2008
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I thought, “Well, say they set up one of these government owned and run, subsidised facilities next to where my GP operates—
Mrs Burke: Look at the hours of operation.
MR MULCAHY: The word Mr Seselja used yesterday—
Mrs Burke: You love that word.
MR ASSISTANT SPEAKER: Order, Mrs Burke!
MR MULCAHY: He said, “We are going to cover all the costs.” What happens? The doctor goes in. He draws a salary. All the bills are paid and the bulk-billing arrangements are provided. The poor GP next door goes broke because he simply is not in a competitive position—
Mrs Burke: I am not sure.
MR ASSISTANT SPEAKER: Order, Mrs Burke!
MR MULCAHY: Mrs Burke is shaking her head and saying no. That is the sort of detail that troubles me. We heard the AMA president say, “I wish they would consult us.” It troubled me when I heard that second interview that the position may not, in fact, have been well thought through.
We already have a subsidy scheme under Medicare to ensure that doctors are supported. This is very different from an entirely government funded clinic that will be competing on a completely uneven basis with private practitioners who do not have access to a bottomless pit of Treasury funds. And where does that leave the clinic at Phillip, for example? You can go down there until 10 o’clock at night, and members of my family have. It bulk-bills and it is run as a private operation. Whether you like primary health care or not, the fact is that the waiting room down there is as busy as Pitt Street on a Saturday morning. A lot of people go there.
Are you saying, “We are going to set up in competition with you. We will have none of the costs that you have got to wear. The taxpayer will foot it all. We will just drag your patients away”? It does not seem to me to sit terribly comfortably. The real danger with this kind of proposal is that the fully subsidised government clinics will push out existing private GPs, who are already leaving the field for a host of reasons—part of which is insurance and part of which is pressure—because these new clinics will compete on entirely different terms. If this is the case, then we could ironically be left with a worse health system than we have today instead of a better one.
I am confused about how they have come up with their costings, Mr Assistant Speaker. It is not surprising because, as I have said in this place before, the Liberal Party’s capacity to properly cost, especially in health, is now legendary. I still want to know about the acute beds. Is that still on or is that off? Has that one just gone out the door? Has it been rescinded? I do not know if Mr Smyth promises or Seselja promises or
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