Federal MP Clive Palmer has declared the Abbott government’s GP co-payment is dead and gone. Source: AAP
MARK Clive Palmer’s words, the government’s $7 GP co-payment is dead, finished, finito, buried.
“NO adjustments. No negotiations,” the Palmer United Party leader said.
Tony Abbott remains committed to introducing the doctor’s charge, despite opposition in the Senate. The prime minister has said the final design of the charge would depend on negotiations with the crossbench, raising speculation it may tweak the Medicare payment. But Mr Palmer declared there wouldn’t be “any form” of co-payment, less than a day after the Senate rejected the coalition’s university reforms. “Mark my words, there will be no co-payment,” he told reporters in Canberra. “The co-payment is dead. Absolutely dead. Finished. Gone and buried. “I’m sure eventually the government will announce that.”