GP Payroll Tax

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA (Hartley—Leader of the Opposition) (14:47): My question is to the Minister for Health. Will the GP payroll tax increase or decrease ramping? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA: On 24 August, The Advertiser reported that the Chairwoman of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, Dr Sian Goodson, warned that people delaying GP care due to rising costs is 'a timebomb that is going to explode in our hospital system and EDs in the years to come'.

The Hon. C.J. PICTON (Kaurna—Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (14:47): The current Leader of the Opposition quotes Dr Sian Goodson, the Chair of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners in his question. It is the same Dr Goodson who the Treasurer and I stood next to in announcing the arrangements that we have put in place for payroll tax in South Australia.

There were negotiations with the RACGP, and we appreciate them working constructively, particularly with the Treasurer, but more broadly with the government in terms of securing what is an excellent outcome in terms of all of those bulk-billed services covered. Approximately about three-quarters of those GP services across the state are covered in terms of being exempted under these arrangements.

That's much more generous than what we see, for example in New South Wales, where you have to either reach I think 80 per cent or 90 per cent of bulk-billed services in a practice before you get any relief from their arrangements that have been put in place in that state. We're incentivising bulk-billing. We know how important that is for people's accessibility to their health care but also in terms of reducing pressure on our hospital system as well.