Abbott got it wrong on GP co-payment
The Abbott Government's contortions over its GP co-payment policy have cost it credibility and political capital. Ten months after the plan was announced in last year's Budget, it is back to square one.
Tony Abbott admitted yesterday that he should have known that the $7 additional fee for every GP visit - which later ended up as a $5 fee - needed better consultation, especially with doctors, who campaigned vigorously against it.
It is encouraging that the Prime Minister can admit his mistake - and there is no doubt there were problems in the way the policy was targeted and in the way it was sold. Perhaps a modest impost on doctor visits that excluded pensioners and concession-card holders might have avoided the backlash, but by dropping the plan altogether, Health Minister Sussan Ley has conceded it is a lost cause.
But, as Treasurer Joe Hockey pointed out yesterday, the result of these failures is a Budget shortfall of close to $1 billion, a significant setback in the deficit recovery process. The Budget's structural problems remain and the Government is faced with the prospect of presenting its second Budget in little more than two months, still with a hangover from its first.
Mr Abbott and Mr Hockey would do well to heed the advice from the Business Council of Australia in its Budget submission. The BCA, while clear about the need to return to surplus and to reduce public debt, advocates a longer-term strategy to get there.
It plays down the existence of a Budget emergency but calls on all sides of politics to get serious about the need to slow spending trajectories before the nation reaches that point.
In a repudiation of the Government's strategy, BCA chief executive Jennifer Westacott says policy change must be properly thought through, well explained and implemented gradually so people and businesses can adjust. The Government is slowly showing signs, courtesy of Mr Abbott's "near-death" experience, that it has learnt that this is the right strategy, rather than taking the axe to the Budget without properly spelling out the problem.
Nalder's train backflip *
Transport Minister Dean Nalder's backflip over the scrapping of late-night trains was as predictable as it was clumsy. His decision to end the 1am, 1.15am and 2.15am weekend services was based on Public Transport Authority data but yesterday the minister indicated the information was flawed.
Mr Nalder should take responsibility for his flawed decision as minister rather than trying to blame the PTA which, like all government agencies and departments, is under pressure to find efficiencies.
Stopping train services at midnight at weekends was a poor decision that would have left many people stranded - including city workers - and encouraged others to drive when they shouldn't be on the road.
The city no longer goes to sleep at midnight - neither should public transport.
