Terri Butler (Griffith, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What a shambolic day it has been for this coalition government. When it comes to the GP tax, probably one of the least popular policies in the history of the Federation, we have had the Prime Minister telling journalists that there would not be a GP tax and we have had the Treasurer telling people that they still intended to bring the GP tax before the parliament. They still wanted to bring the GP tax before the parliament. Don't we know what a rotten policy this is and how much people hate it! I have to say, in my by-election earlier this year, the Prime Minister came to town and the foreign minister came to town and said, 'There's not going to be a GP tax—it is all scaremongering on the part of this woman.' My electorate was told it is all scaremongering. What did we see? We saw the Commission of Audit recommended a GP tax. Then we saw a budget in which this government said that there would be a GP tax. And haven't they looked ridiculous, to the point where one of their own senators is saying that he might cross the floor if the GP tax does go back to the parliament. We have the health minister saying, 'We might do it by regulation.' He is refusing to rule out doing it by regulation. It is an absolute mess. It is an absolute disgrace.

Who are the people who are affected by this shambolic government's uncertainty? They are the consumers of this country, people already trying to bear the cost-of-living pressures that they already face. It is the Abbott government policy to tax people every time they go to the doctor, with $3.5 billion worth of taxes on people when they go to the doctor. Someone in this government surely knows what is going on— (Time expired)