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Tony Abbott has finally euthanised his unpopular GP co-payment. Picture: Tim Carrafa Source: News Corp Australia
AT LAST there is an explanation for why the $7 GP co-payment, the sickly dog of a policy from the May Budget, was kept for seven months before being put out of its misery.
The doctors were outraged, protesters pointed to harm to pensioners and children, and crossbench senators said they’d block it.
So, it has been a political mystery why the government, amid all these signs of electoral unrest and policy failure, did nothing about the $7 co-payment until yesterday’s awkward euthanasia.
The simple answer is: It wasn’t its turn.
The $7 co-payment was at the end of a queue of things the government would deal with, and because it wasn’t due to start until next July, wasn’t moved up the list.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott tours the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Melbourne. Picture: Tim Carrafa Source: News Corp Australia
“Well, we are obviously dealing with all the measures in the Budget sequentially and in a prioritised fashion,†Finance Minister Mathias Cormann told ABC’s RN Breakfast today.
He said of the new Senate numbers: “It’s not as if we’ve been sitting on our hands and not been doing anything since July 1 … when the Senate changed.
“We got rid of the carbon tax, which was good for families and business, we got rid of the mining tax.
“We dealt with a whole series of Budget measures and reform priorities and of course now we have finalised this particular Budget measure.â€
So apparently it wasn’t because Prime Minister Tony Abbott had been so extraordinarily stubborn he ignored the severe damage the unpopular policy was doing to the government.
But it doesn’t explain why the Prime Minister’s office two weeks ago briefed reporters that the $7 co-payment was scrapped, while 12 hours later Treasurer Joe Hockey was insisting it was still a goer.
Health Minister Peter Dutton and PM Tony Abbott address the media over the co-payment backflip yesterday. Source: News Corp Australia
Opinion polls, rather than what Senator Cormann called “sequential†priorities, would have decided the $7 co-payment’s fate. It was a barnacle to be quickly removed. But probably too late.
Keeping the $7 co-payment for so long leaves a twin legacy unhelpful to the government.
The policy helped depict it as being unfair to the vulnerable; and added evidence to the argument it can’t get important matters right the first time.
Labor will exploit both legacies and demonise Son-of-Co-payment, the $5 rebate reduction, in a bid to make the government suffer further.
The Medicare changes are not the only Plan Bs of the past few weeks.
The Prime Minister has had to adjust his signature paid parental leave, and relent on allowances for Defence Force members.
The decision to dispose of the Plan A Medicare changes is a sign the government is becoming more keenly aware of its precarious position.
Struggling in the polls … PM Tony Abbott. Picture: Tim Carrafa Source: News Corp Australia