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

Confusion reigns with the GP tax—this cascading tax. It is there every time you go into a doctor's waiting-room, every time you get a blood test, every time you get a scan. But, like Frankenstein's monster, it lives. We thought it had died, but it lives. We know it lives because the AMA Media today tweeted:

PM must clarify position on #copayment now. Confusion reigns.

I saw one of the members opposite last night on Peter van Onselen's show. He was confused. He did not know what was happening. Malcolm Farr tweeted:

PMO was last night briefing GP co-payment was buried. Today the tomb was wrenched open by other ministers. Who's not talking to whom?

That was retweeted 48 times. Daniel Hurst tweeted:

Our policy stands, our policy stands': Hockey on GP fee. Asked why govt had briefed out that it was dumped, he says: 'I haven't heard that.'

The Treasurer is confused. Michelle Grattan must be a bit confused because she tweeted:

Wouldn't it be good tactics for gov to just plainly say what it plans on Medicare? Or does it enjoy its barnacled boat taking water?

That is what Michelle Grattan tweeted. Latika Bourke tweeted:

This is the look of a Govt that knows what it's doing and in control.

That is what she tweeted with a link to a story about the GP co-payment.

We know that this is an assault on Medicare; it is an assault on everybody who goes into a waiting room—everybody who gets a blood test or who gets a scan—(Time expired)