Tony Abbott faced a backbench revolt on his plan to slash the Medicare rebate for short doctors’ visits with former cabinet minister Mal Brough prepared to go public and denounce the idea, prompting the Prime Minister’s backdown.
Queensland Premier Campbell Newman, who is in the middle of an election campaign, also wanted the issue killed, fearing a repeat of the Victorian election where federal issues dragged down the vote and the state Coalition government was dumped after one term.
Former AMA president and Liberal candidate Bill Glasson also intervened and in a phone call with the Prime Minister urged him to dump the cuts, which were due to take effect from Monday.
“Elements of the backbench” had “gone spare” and felt “angry and let down” by the government’s mishandling of the policy according to one Liberal, while Queensland backbencher Bert van Manen has gone public in calling on the leadership to fix its communication problems.
On Wednesday morning Mr Abbott had publicly defended the $20 cut to the Medicare rebate for 10-minute appointments as a “price signal” and “economic reform”. But backbenchers, especially in Queensland, threatened to revolt, prompting the Prime Minister to take soundings on Wednesday afternoon.
Dr Glasson urged Mr Abbott to drop the rebate cuts and sit down with doctors and work on a more holistic approach to Medicare. Mr Brough is understood to have been preparing to criticise the policy publicly.
Mr Abbott decided that evening to dump the idea during a phone call with new Health Minister Sussan Ley. Senior ministers were told there would be a phone hook-up of the leadership group on Thursday morning, and at the meeting the decision to dump the policy was rubber stamped. Ms Ley cut short her holiday to make the announcement on Thursday afternoon.
The rebate cuts would have saved the government $1.3 billion but sparked a furious backlash by doctors, in the community and in the Senate, were it would have been vetoed when Parliament resumed in February.
Queensland Liberal Bert van Manen said he supports asking wealthier Australians to contribute to the costs of the doctor vists and making bulk-billing available for the vulnerable but was one of the backbenchers pushing for the idea to be dropped.
He said the government needed to open up discussions with the community and argue the case for change, as opposed to surprising voters with policies.
“There’s an old saying ‘Before you harvest a field, you need to sow the seeds’. We’re failing to sow the seeds,” he told Fairfax Media.
“We need to have discussions with the community about why we should be mounting these changes. It’s about communicating the message and that’s not being done,” he said.
Another Liberal said the debacle served as a final warning shot to the Prime Minister that this was his last chance to reform his office.
Source: WA Today