Reports tonight that the Abbott Government is writing to veterans advising they are exempt from paying its unfair GP Tax are very welcome – but doesn’t go far enough.
It’s now time that Tony Abbott backed down and ditched his plans for an unfair GP Tax altogether. No one should have to pay this unfair tax.
Tony Abbott should recognise there are many more in the community who cannot afford this unfair tax including pensioners, families on low and middle incomes and unemployed Australians.
This is an unfair tax based on a Tony Abbott lies before for the election.
The GP Tax is just one of many attacks on elderly Australians in Tony Abbott’s Budget which also attacks veterans by cutting payments to orphans of war veterans, cutting pensions for war veterans, and cutting veterans’ disability support.
When it comes to healthcare, every Australian is being let down by the most uncompassionate government since Federation and the most ineffective Health Minister Australia has ever had.
During an address at the National Press Club today, the President of the Australian Medical Association Professor Brian Owler said the GP Tax in its current form ‘threatens the very foundations of the health system’.
The cuts and structural changes in Tony Abbott’s Budget are the biggest attack on Medicare in more than 30 years.
They are an attempt to end universal healthcare in Australia and create a two-tiered, American style health system.
Labor will continue to stand up for the rights of all Australians against Tony Abbotts cuts and unfair GP Tax.