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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2024-10-15 Daily Xml
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General Practitioner Payroll Tax

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA (Hartley—Leader of the Opposition) (14:11): My question is to the Premier. Will Labor's patient tax grab increase the cost of seeing a GP at the Hallett Cove Corner Surgery? With your leave, sir, and that of the house—

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Point of order, sir: standing order 98. I would ask him to rephrase his question in line with standing orders.

The SPEAKER: Maybe have another go.

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA: Thank you, sir, I will do my level best. My question is to the Premier. Will the recent changes to GP taxation rules increase the cost of seeing a GP at the Hallett Cove Corner Surgery? With your leave, sir, and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

The Hon. V.A. TARZIA: On 1 July Labor's changes came into effect increasing the cost of GP visits by anywhere between $10 to $20 per visit.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS (Croydon—Premier) (14:12): I thank the Leader of the Opposition for his question because his question obviously specifically mentions Hallett Cove, and Hallett Cove is clearly a suburb that's going to get a lot of attention over the next few weeks or so. I was chatting to a Hallett Cove resident just the other day, a gentleman by the name of Alex Dighton.

The Hon. J.A.W. Gardner interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Morialta! I have warned everyone. Don't interject.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: Alex Dighton is a Hallett Cove resident. He lives in Hallett Cove with his wife and his son. He has lived there for some time, and he knows a lot about Hallett Cove. I am sure he can introduce some members opposite to Hallett Cove at some point in the not too distant future.

Alex Dighton, the Labor candidate for the seat of Hallett Cove, was talking to me about just how many residents in that local community are conscious of the effort that this government is undertaking to address healthcare service delivery in conjunction, I might add, with the federal Labor government of course.

The Hon. J.A.W. Gardner interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Morialta—final warning.

The Hon. P.B. MALINAUSKAS: The Leader of the Opposition in his question referenced 1 July. As the Treasurer I think quite appropriately drew the opposition's attention to earlier, this government has in actual fact facilitated formally, as a matter of fact, a tax reduction in the way that payroll tax is operated by creating a brand-new regime around the application of payroll tax that indeed exempts payroll tax from those practices or those consults that relate to bulk-billing services—and bulk-billing is important. Bulk-billing is particularly important for residents in Hallett Cove who, like the rest of so many other families in metropolitan Adelaide and throughout the state, are grappling with a higher cost environment. We are determined to make sure that we contemplate any initiative that is available to the state government that could be reasonably accommodated that will make a difference to the cost-of-living pressures experienced by those in Hallett Cove.

While on one level I sympathise with the Leader of the Opposition, who doesn't have a direct conduit into Hallett Cove, who has to make their way to Hallett Cove via Glenelg South, we will continue to engage directly, we will talk to people on the ground and we will make sure we remain connected to the concerns of those residents in Hallett Cove via a high-quality representative or Labor candidate in the form of Alex Dighton.

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