LNP Government deliver on election promise to axe Labor’s proposed patients tax

The LNP government says the abolishment of a tax on GPs, which would have been a ‘burden’ to the health system, is a major win. Here’s why.

Mundingburra MP Janelle Poole with Cranbrook Medical Owner Dr Naomi Gleadow. Picture: Nikita McGuire

The LNP government says the abolishment of a tax on GPs, which would have been a ‘burden’ to the health system, is a major win.

Mundingburra MP Janelle Poole visited Cranbook Medical owner Dr Naomi Gleadow as the LNP say they delivered on their election promise to end the tax for GPs.

In September last year then Opposition Leader David Crisafulli said he would exempt GPs from the patients tax, also known as payroll tax, if they came into power.

A key election promise, Ms Poole said it was good news for GPs who were at risk of having to pass the tax onto patients.

Mundingburra MP Janelle Poole with Cranbrook Medical Owner Dr Naomi Gleadow. Picture: Nikita McGuire

“During parliament last week we abolished the patients tax, so what that means is that patients tax that our GPs would then sadly have to pass on to customers, which then makes healthcare less affordable for our community, which then puts a strain on our emergency departments,” she said.

“Abolishing the payroll tax is all about affordable and timely healthcare for everybody in our community.”

Ms Poole said scrapping the tax was a priority for the LNP as they came into government, after consulting with doctors during their campaign.

September 2024. Townsville GP Dr Naomi Gleadow at Cranbrook Medical with LNP Mundingburra, Townsville and Thuringowa candidates Janelle Poole, Adam Baillie and Natalie Marr. Picture: Evan Morgan

“We are not the experts, we need to listen to the experts that are in the industry and that is something that was a common theme that was coming through, that this patient’s tax would just be an added burden on the people that needed to then go and see their GP,” she said.

Dr Naomi Gleadow, who was visited by Ms Poole, Natalie Marr, Adam Baillie and now-Treasurer David Janetzki at her medical centre back in October last year, said at the time said she wanted to keep doing what she loved without fear of costs pushing her out of the industry.

“We knew about this tax 18 months before it was abolished, so as an owner of a practice we were actually starting to think about a. costs and b. how we would pay for the tax?” she said on Tuesday.

“For a practice like us here and a lot of other practices, we would have had to pass it on to the patients. We were extremely happy when the LNP approached us before the election.

“Other states haven’t been as lucky as us. I know Victoria still has this tax on their radar, I can’t imagine how they are trying to proceed and deal with that as an owner.”

September 2024. Townsville GP Dr Naomi Gleadow at Cranbrook Medical with LNP Shadow Treasurer David Janetzki and Mundingburra, Thuringowa and Townsville candidates Janelle Poole, Natalie Marr and Adam Baillie. Picture: Evan Morgan

Dr Gleadow said costs of running their practice have gone up 20 per cent in the last 12 months and the addition of the tax on top of this would have been ‘detrimental’, with GPs already finding it hard to keep up with the demand for medical services.

“We don’t take new patients at this practice because we are overloaded,” she said.

“GPs are closing their doors. From our perspective we are really, really struggling to keep up with demand.”

“There are minimal trainees coming through, not a lot of people are attracted to general practice anymore. This is a big deal for us. Since I’ve owned this practice this is the biggest government decision that has made a difference to our bottom line.”

Originally published as LNP Government deliver on election promise to axe Labor’s proposed patients tax