Budget Estimates has confirmed the Palaszczuk Labor Government has plans to introduce a new tax on general practitioners in the middle of the Queensland Health Crisis.

The LNP is once again raising serious concerns that Labor’s Patients’ Tax means Queenslanders will pay more to see the doctor.

The AMAQ has said that the targets for this tax are “small suburban and regional clinics, owned by mums and dads” and will “impose an unprecedented extra cost to patients at a time when cost of living pressures are hitting communities hard.”

It means that more Queenslanders will be forced to go to already over-stretched, over-crowded and under-resourced hospital emergency departments.

Under Estimates questioning yesterday, the Palaszczuk Labor Government has conceded:

• Treasury has not worked with Queensland Health to determine the impact of this new tax on ambulance call outs at a time of record ramping;
• No modelling has been undertaken to determine the impact of this new tax on bulk billing rates in Queensland;
• No modelling has been undertaken to determine the impact of this new tax on the access of residential aged care facility residents to their visiting GP (given a large proportion are currently not charged a gap);
• There is no idea how many doctors or medical centres will be impacted by this new tax;
• There is no idea how much additional payroll tax will be raised from a range of health services including dental clinics, physiotherapy practices and radiology centres; and
• There is no explanation as to why existing medical practices have been granted an amnesty until 2025 while new medical practices are not eligible.
Shadow Treasurer David Janetzki said Treasurer Dick’s increasingly unhinged and irrational performances reveal the pressure he is feeling due to the chaos and crisis of his Government.

“Treasurer Dick has broken promises, destroyed investment confidence and handed over billions of taxpayer dollars to bail out the project overruns of his Cabinet colleagues,” Mr Janetzki said.

“As a key member of the Cabinet Budget Review Committee (CBRC) he has lost control of the Government’s spending and the conduct of his Cabinet colleagues, particularly the disgraced Mark Bailey.

“Who will Queenslanders believe – doctors that care for the sick or an increasingly erratic Cameron Dick?

“Queenslanders can’t afford the chaos and crisis of the Palaszczuk Labor Government.”