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Key events
Josh Butler
There are no plans to reform the Medicare levy, but changes to the Medicare rebate are on the table
Going back to Medicare, time to clarify something the health minister, Mark Butler, said.
Responding to a question about changing the Medicare levy (the tax that helps fund Medicare), he said nothing was off the table – but after we asked a follow-up question, Butler clarified that he had misheard the question and thought he was being asked about the Medicare rebate for GPs.
To confirm: the minister said there were no plans to reform the Medicare levy, but said the Medicare rebate was on the table.
There should be a retrospective indexation of Medicare rebates, AMA president says
Robson said more money needs to be invested in general practices, but didn’t say how much the Medicare rebate should be increased.
We need to get back to a point where it’s affordable for all Australians and it’s viable for general practices to actually function as businesses.
What we’d liked to have seen today is an announcement that there’ll be a retrospective indexation of Medicare rebates for consultations that would reflect the cost of care, having accounted for the fact that it’s been frozen and hasn’t been indexed for years.
AMA president says medical funding is ‘good starting point’ but surprised at lack of agreement
Robson said $250m per year over three years is a very good starting point, but he said he was surprised there was not more in the report.
We had the most powerful political leaders in the country all in one room. It doesn’t seem they could agree on anything.
In regards the planned expansion of multidisciplinary care, he said there is a need to build a “medical home”.
We think that … other allied health professionals certainly have a role to play and can certainly work at the top of their scope. But the way to do that is to build a team, not a silo.
So having, for example, pharmacy prescribing where a pharmacist is not qualified to diagnose anything at all, in their own silo, prescribing, just doesn’t make sense. There’s a very good reason that there is a natural break between prescribing … and dispensing [and] we don’t think that breaking that silo adds anything. In fact, it just adds another layer of complexity and potential cost.
Jordyn Beazley
Good afternoon, and thank you Natasha for leading us through this morning’s news.
There is nothing in the report that will provide immediate relief, AMA president says
The president of Australia’s Medical Association Prof Stephen Robson is now giving his thoughts on the Albanese government’s Strengthening Medicare taskforce report:
The problem is there is absolutely nothing in the report as released today that will allow Australians who are struggling to see a GP or struggling to afford to see a GP to see that GP any more quickly, any more affordability, and Australians who are waiting for operations and surgery to relieve pain and so on, to have these procedures any more quickly.
So, while the report is very welcome and certainly has changes that will strengthen the system that we know, there is absolutely nothing in the report at the moment that will provide anything immediate, and that is what we need.
Natasha May
Thanks for your attention this morning, Jordyn Beazley will be taking you through the rest of today’s news. Have a lovely weekend!
Emergency department ‘lightning rod for every failing elsewhere in the health system’, minister says
Coming back to Butler’s press conference, he says:
What’s new about today is the depth of interest by jurisdictions, including premiers and chief ministers, not just in hospital funding, but in how the primary care system is operating, as well as linkages to aged care and disabilities.
Because they understand that those pressures are ending up on their doorstep.
The emergency department ends up effectively as the lightning rod for every failing elsewhere in the health system. If you can’t get care in an aged care facility or in a general practice, too often you end up in an emergency department.
At the opportunity for questions following the national cabinet announcements, our own Josh Butler also asked the PM if could expand on the federal efforts to tackle rightwing extremism and sovereign citizens.
Could I ask for an update on the terrorism law reforms that [home affairs minister] Clare O’Neil has flagged previously? What is your concern specifically with rightwing extremism, sovereign citizens and the Queensland shooting. Do you consider that an act of domestic terrorism?
Albanese says he’s always cautious to speak publicly about the national security issues of the home affairs minister’s portfolio “before they have gone through proper processes.”
That work is certainly underway and is substantial.
… I attended the funeral service of the victims who were murdered. It was one of the most moving things that I’ve done in my life and I think that when you have people who are on the front line every day, our police officers murdered, these young people, young man and young woman. The catastrophic premeditated, calculated murder that occurred there on the basis of a warped ideology, then it requires us to do what we can to keep the citizens we all represent safe.
Hence the report this morning from Mr Burgess, that went into details that I won’t go into here, but we know that the threat is real and tragically, we have seen the consequences of it.
There is responsibility to deliver disaster funding where it’s needed, not politically, PM says
Here’s what the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, had to say on the issue of the auditor general’s report into bushfire recovery grants.
Reporter:
On the audit report into bushfire grants in New South Wales – which are partly federal government funded – do you think that that was the way that disaster relief should be delivered? Or do you trust the states to deliver such money? And do you agree with [the] New South Wales Labor leader, Chris Minns, that the matter should be referred to Icac?
Albanese:
Well, I think that disaster relief should be distributed on the basis of need. That’s my starting point. And, quite clearly, it shouldn’t be politicised.
And my government – in terms of how we’ve worked with all of the state and territory jurisdictions – has done that. We’ve provided support across the board and, I think if you look at where the support has gone – whether it be in Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia, Western Australia.
I don’t think I’ve been into a Labor electorate in that entire time federally that I’ve been the prime minister in making substantial announcements except perhaps Bendigo, would be the exception to that. We all have a responsibility to deliver where it’s needed, not to deliver politically.
More on the auditor general’s report here:
Tamsin Rose
Ex-minister ‘incredulous’ at auditor general report into NSW bushfire grants
The former New South Wales Liberal minister, Andrew Constance, is “incredulous” following the release of the scathing auditor general report into bushfire recovery grants.
The former Bega MP said those communities that were still rebuilding following the 2019 and 2020 fires would be devastated and someone needed to answer for the problems outlined in the report.
He told 2GB:
Accountability is really important for fire victims. That’s why I’m speaking now. You’ve got to remember this is against the backdrop of issues with charity money, we had issues with business grants … and now this.
He said the then deputy premier John Barilaro “100%” needed to explain what had happened in his office.
When this type of report drops, it’s really important to just get an understanding of what’s happened and the explanation behind it.
He said he did not want to see pork barrelling.
Butler says the the third message from the taskforce is the need to do better on digital health. Butler gives a shout-out to GPs he says are using My Health Record well.
We have almost countless different clinical information systems operating at state level, commonwealth level, and in different parts of the private sector. And they generally don’t talk to themselves at all or, if they do, they don’t talk to themselves very well.
My Health Record is now used by 23.5m Australians. But again, the former government did not allocate a single dollar to the My Health Record system beyond June 30. If we’re not able to find new money to continue the My Health Record, you’ll have to dust off your fax machines, because the whole of the e-health system in Australia will fall over.
In addition to having to continue the funding for My Health Record, if genuinely it is going to be the centrepiece of a connected digital health system, we have to improve its functionality.
Currently, it’s pretty outdated, clunky, pdf format system that needs to be able to underpin a real-time, fully integrated digital health system. So we recognise that the commonwealth has the first responsibility to move here and to upgrade the nature of the My Health Record.
But we also need other health professionals to connect to it. General practitioners, pharmacies, are very good at this. About 99% of them or more are connected to My Health Record and upload to it regularly. Only 11% of specialists do. Only about 20% of diagnostic imaging – X-rays and CT scans – are uploaded to My Health Record.
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