Tuesday, 28 May 2024

Questions without notice and ministers statements

Payroll tax

John PESUTTO (Hawthorn – Leader of the Opposition) (14:01): My question is to the Premier. Since the last election the Premier and Labor ministers have said 20 times that GPs were not being handed retrospective payroll tax bills, claiming that ‘absolutely nothing has changed’. After the government’s spectacular backflip last week, will the Premier now give a personal explanation as to why she misled Parliament?

The SPEAKER: I will call the Premier, but allegations of misleading Parliament must be done by substantive motion.

Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:02): I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question, because it again gives me the opportunity to remind the Leader of the Opposition, the house and indeed the broader community that it has only been the Labor government that has stood with our GPs in the Victorian community against the decade of neglect from the former federal Liberal–National government. That is what has not changed; it absolutely has not changed. It is interesting: we never heard boo from a goose from those opposite in standing with us to support our hardworking GPs during this decade of neglect, which we have seen has brought the Medicare system and the primary care system to their knees. It has taken the federal Labor government and the work that they have been doing with the states to once again work with our hardworking GPs to support them.

That is why the announcements that were made last week by the Treasurer are designed to continue to strengthen and support our bulk-billing GPs, to provide them with that support to continue with that important bulk-billing, because that is one of the areas that the Victorian community has been particularly badly hit by with the decline in bulk-billing rates amongst GPs because of that decade of neglect from the former Liberal –

James Newbury: On a point of order, Speaker, the Premier is clearly now debating the question.

The SPEAKER: The Premier was being relevant to the question.

Jacinta ALLAN: In being relevant to the question I will refer to this quote from Dr Jill Tomlinson, the Victorian president of the AMA, where she says, ‘General practice is vital for keeping Victorians out of hospital.’ That is exactly why we have continued to provide support to our hardworking GPs. I think our GPs know that we will stand with them. We will provide support for them to continue bulk-billing and for them to provide support to the Victorian community whilst we also – whether it is through establishing the priority primary care centres, the Victorian Virtual Emergency Department or the community pharmacy pilot – look at ways that we can continue to strengthen and support our GP system, our primary care system, through the initiatives that only a Victorian Labor government will deliver.

John PESUTTO (Hawthorn – Leader of the Opposition) (14:05): The Premier said just a few weeks ago:

… can I make it absolutely clear to the house and to the Leader of the Opposition that he is referring to a tax that does not exist. There is no health tax.

Why then did the government backflip and offer an exemption to a tax that does not exist?

Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:05): I absolutely stand by the reference that the Leader of the Opposition has made, because he was making things up then and he is making things up now. We will continue to support our hardworking GPs. While those opposite are more worried about the letters they are getting in their mailboxes from lawyers from around the state, we are going to focus on supporting our hardworking GPs.