Liberals open fire on fees, aiming to clip Brian Owler’s wings

Labor’s would-be member for Bennelong, neurosurgeon Brian Owler, has denied claims of excessive charging.

Brian Owler, left, shaking hands with Bill Shorten yesterday outside Ryde Hospital in Sydney’s north. Picture: AAP

Labor’s candidate for the electorate of Bennelong, leading doctor Brian Owler, has hit back at the Liberal Party for circulating mater­ial suggesting he charged patients up to 200 per cent above the amount covered by Medicare.

The Sydney-based neuro­surgeon, a former president of the Australian Medical Association, said he charges patients “slightly less than industry standard” after his “fees policy” showed he charged “at or below” what is recom­mended by the AMA for private practitioners.

The AMA recommends a fee of $1030 for brain surgery that treats Parkinson’s disease — Dr Owler’s specialty — while Medicare covers $340 of the fee of the procedure.

“Dr Owler is a world-renowned neurosurgeon who has saved countless lives and eased suffering for thousands,’’ a spokesman for Labor said last night.

“Neurosurgery is never typical and fees depend on patient need. Dr Owler charges slightly less than industry standard.”

Bennelong MP John Alexander, a Liberal backbencher and forme­r tennis champion, used Dr Owler’s fees policy to label him “Mr Mastercard”.

Bill Shorten had earlier called Dr Owler — a key campaigner against the Abbott government’s proposed co-payment in the 2014 budget — “Mr Medicare”, when unveiling him as the party’s candid­ate in John Howard’s forme­r electorate.

 

“According to his own website, Mr Owler is more like Mr Mastercard — Medicare doesn’t even rate a mention on his fees page,” Mr ­Alexander said.

Dr Owler lives outside the electorate in a $3.85 million home in the affluent suburb of Wahroonga, in the adjoining seat of Bradfield.

He owns doctors’ rooms in the northwestern Sydney suburbs of Bella Vista and Norwest, and works out of private practices includ­ing the Norwest Private Hospital, Macquarie University Hos­pit­al and Westmead Private Hospital. He also works at The Children’s Hospital at Westmead, where he does not charge out-of-pocket fees.

Mr Alexander came under fire in last year’s by-election campaign in his northwestern Sydney seat for temporarily living with his partner in the electorate of Wentworth, in Sydney’s east.

The Opposition Leader declared yesterday that Medicare would be the biggest issue at the next election as he talked up “Mr Medicare” for his history of standing up for public health.

In a hark back to the so-called “Mediscare” campaign in the 2016 election, Mr Shorten accused the government of freezing Medicare funding and outsourcing parts of the service to private companies.

“There are plenty of issues in the next federal election but no issue is any more important than healthcare,’’ he said.

“One of the reasons why I want to be prime minister is to put healthcare back up the top of the charts when it comes to the policies of the national government.’’

Dr Owler, who was the face of the NSW Labor government’s road safety campaign in 2011, said he came from a “fairly modest background”. “My parents worked hard, I worked hard, and through the opportunities of education and school and university, I was able to become a doctor and of course a neurosurgeon,” he said.

“I have fought hard and passionately to defend Medicare and our excellent Australian healthcare system against the constan­t attacks from a Liberal Coalition government.”

Bennelong has been held by the Liberal Party since its inception in 1949, except when Labor’s Maxine McKew won it off Mr Howard at the 2007 election.

Ms McKew only held the seat for one term before losing it to Mr Alexander.

Mr Alexander defeated Kris­tina Keneally, now a Labor senator, in a December by-election.