Qld election 2024: LNP’s mass text campaign blasted as dishonest

An LNP mass text campaign calling on voters to stop a so-called patients tax by changing the government has been slammed as dishonest.

Opposition Leader David Crisafulli visits the Gold Coast Suns on Sunday. Picture: Tertius Pickard

An LNP mass text campaign calling on voters to stop a so-called patients tax by changing the government has been slammed as dishonest, with Treasurer Cameron Dick calling for it to stop.

Voters across the state began receiving messages claiming their Labor MP had “voted for Labor’s Patients Tax” and to “Stop Labor’s Patients Tax. Change the government” on Sunday — the day before early voting opens.

The text also directs voters to a website which carries an authorisation from LNP state director Ben Riley.

Mr Dick called for the LNP’s latest “scare campaign”, pretending to be a special interest group, to stop.

He said the government had committed to exempting GPs from payroll tax through law. Labor’s promise on the so-called patients tax came after the LNP promised to do the same.

An LNP spokesman argued Labor had tried to dance around the existence of the tax while the LNP had committed to removing it.

“If the Labor Party wishes to campaign on removing their own patients tax that would be welcomed by doctors and Queenslanders,” he said.

The patients tax stoush stems from a NSW tribunal ruling in 2022 which found GP clinics were liable for payroll tax, sparking calls by peak bodies like the RACGP and AMAQ for governments to exempt them or risk financially crippling the sector.

Opposition Leader David Crisafulli, campaigning in the Gold Coast seat of Gaven on Sunday, sidestepped questions about whether the LNP was being misleading about the patients tax.

Mr Crisafulli was at People First Stadium to announce a $2m expansion of the Gold Coast Suns training academy if elected. Hours later Labor announced it would give the same project $3m if elected.

Originally published as Qld election 2024: LNP’s mass text campaign blasted as dishonest