Ambulance Ramping

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA (Hartley—Leader of the Opposition) (14:24): My question is to the Premier. What impact has the government's GP payroll tax grab had on ramping and emergency department pressure? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA: Labor's decision to implement its GP payroll tax grab was criticised by the medical profession, including the AMA and the Royal College of GPs, who claimed it would impact vulnerable patients and increase the pressure on EDs. The South Australian health system is now in the grips of the 36th worst ramping month on record.

The Hon. C.J. PICTON (Kaurna—Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (14:24): Firstly, I don't accept the premise of that question either in that, what this government and this Treasurer have done is put in place a tax cut for practices, particularly for practices that are bulk-billing across the state.

The arrangements that the Treasurer has put in place in South Australia are much more generous than what you find in many other states. For example, in a measure in New South Wales that they have triumphed as a boom for bulk-billing you have to reach a particular threshold, some 85 per cent bulk-billing, before you get any benefit. Whereas here in South Australia, under what the Treasurer has put in place, every single bulk-billed service is exempt from those.

We know how critical bulk-billing is in terms of demand across our health system and our hospitals as well. We have of course seen a reduction in bulk-billing happen over the course of the past decade as Medicare rates have been frozen by the federal government over the past decade. That saw a collapse in bulk-billing here and across the country. That is starting to recover, and we of course welcome the significant investments that have been made by the federal government and their commitments at the preceding federal election to aim to get back to 90 per cent bulk-billing across the board.

We see that as critically important to make sure that we can have people getting that care in the community and less pressure on our emergency departments. It is less usually the case that somebody can't get into their GP and they roll up to the emergency department. Of course, sometimes that does occur. But what happens is people don't get that ongoing care from a GP and then they get sicker and then they have no choice but to go to the emergency department. So having that bulk-billing rate restored is critical to reducing pressure on our health system overall, and that is what the Treasurer's package is designed to support, so all of those bulk-billed services are completely supported.