Labor leader Bill Shorten has announced the opposition will move to disallow the $20 cut in Medicare rebate for short GP visits. Photo: Michelle Smith
The federal government’s $20 cut to Medicare rebates for short visits to the doctors appears dead in the water with Labor and several crossbenchers declaring they will overturn it in the Senate.
Labor Leader Bill Shorten declared on Wednesday that the opposition would “disallow” the regulation when it is presented to the Parliament in February.
Speaking in Ipswich, where he is helping campaign in the Queensland state election, Mr Shorten said the government’s attempts to slash rebates by regulation constituted a “sneak attack” on Medicare.
“Our position is unequivocal, it’s in black and white,” he said.
“We will oppose Tony Abbott changing the rebate system for our GPs, making it a lot harder and through this sneaky backdoor method,” he told reporters.
“We will say to Tony Abbott, you are not going to damage the Medicare system if we’ve got anything to do with it.”
The opposition combined with the Greens and four crossbench senators, including Nick Xenophon, Glenn Lazarus, Ricky Muir and Jacqui Lambie, will form the 39 votes needed to strike down the change.
The cuts are due to come into effect on January 19.
More to come