on 20-03-2015 08:17 AM
Labor frontbencher Andrew Leigh shifts position on previous support for a GP fee
Labor's shadow assistant treasurer Andrew Leigh was once a strong supporter of a compulsory fee for visits to the doctor - a policy now slammed by the opposition as a “GP tax” that would hurt the community’s most vulnerable.
But in a 2003 Sydney Morning Herald article Dr Leigh, then a PhD student in economics at Harvard University, argued a Medicare co-payment was “hardly a radical idea”.
“As health researchers have shown, cost-less medical care means that people go to the doctor even when they don't need to, driving up the cost for all of us," Dr Leigh and co-author Richard Holden wrote.
“But there's a better way of operating a health system, and the change should hardly hurt at all.
“As economists have shown, the ideal model involves a small co-payment - not enough to put a dent in your weekly budget, but enough to make you think twice before you call the doc."
Dr Leigh argued the fee should be enough to deter “frivolous GP visits”, but not enough to limit genuine preventive care. The fee should apply to everyone, including pensioners, except those who are chronically ill, he wrote.
Dr Leigh, who has opposed the proposal in media appearances over recent weeks, told Fairfax Media: "Since 2003, a lot has changed in the health care system, and I've changed my view on co-payments.
“A GP co-payment was originally a Hawke government proposal led by Brian Howe, a member of the Left faction,” he said.
“As long as it is applied fairly across the community, a co-payment is a perfectly valid policy measure. If Andrew Leigh, before he had to toe the party line, recognised that then I welcome his contribution to the debate. I respect Andrew Leigh as a sensible economist.”
On Saturday, Dr Leigh, a former professor of economics at the Australian National University, distanced himself from an article he wrote in 2004 supporting fee deregulation for universities – another policy opposed by Labor.
Yes, it’s the very well respected ALP whey-faced Dr Andrew Leigh who virtually declared his previous books and speeches as mere works of fiction. This brings into sharp focus Dr Leigh's economics degree.
on 12-04-2015 02:34 PM
@vicr3000 wrote:
Not sure how you fit 72 Virgins + 1 in a Pine Box
(I'd like to try the 72 virgins though
)
Be vewwy vewwy careful what you wish for. The reference to 72 virgins is attributed to a poor translation of part of the Quran. If the translation is so poor the result might be that you have 72 male virgins to contend with. Not a very pleasant thought.
12-04-2015 10:05 PM - edited 12-04-2015 10:07 PM
In that case would make for a very interesting Last supper, of Pork !
(of course without the knowledge of the 72 )
Feed the man meat ! Just don't tell them what it is !
on 13-04-2015 07:45 AM
The incredible shrinking man. Poor Bill is going nowhere despite all his empty rhetoric and threats about the pension. This sloganeering and transparent scaremongering.
He just doesn't care how awful his scare mongering is, like his opportunistic sidekick Plibersek, scare the old and scare the pensioners, scare everybody as long as it can get them back into power.
Poor Bill is slipping in the polls and the PM is rising, leaving this hollow man in the weeds.
The people have had enough of Labor's criminal and lying members, the psychotic Rudd, the lying & thieving of Gillard, the union machine men like Shorten with his grubby climb to the top over the rape allegation's, the affairs, the abuse of women, the bodies of two Prime Ministers, the crooked ballot that saw him snatch the leadership from the other contender.
Yes, we really want this shining example of a human being as our next PM, said no one ever.
on 13-04-2015 08:51 AM
@idlewhile wrote:The incredible shrinking man.
Poor Bill is slipping in the polls and the PM is rising, leaving this hollow man in the weeds.
Don't let the facts stand in the way of a good ol' rant.
on 13-04-2015 09:34 AM
Polls, within a margin of error but Unfairfax is so slanted to the left it's no wonder they are never taken seriously.
Is this as good as it gets for Bill, looks like it, he's been found seriously wanting.
I wonder how they will get rid of him, they have crippled themselves with Shorten, will they have to run another crooked poll to dump him?
on 13-04-2015 10:56 AM
Coalition Poll Dive
At approval ratings of minus 26 and minus 25 respectively, Mr Abbott and Mr Hockey are equally unpopular, reinforcing a view within the Liberal party-room that a change in leadership would be a 2-for-1 deal resulting in Mr Hockey's removal as well.
Proponents of that move say that would clear the way for a new economic narrative and a new advocate in the crucial treasury post, most likely, the current social Services Minister, Scott Morrison.
SMH
Polls relevant, important must be taken notice of when Labor was in Govt, now they aren't important hmmm.. double standards.
on 13-04-2015 11:03 AM
on 13-04-2015 01:04 PM
Shorten running off at the mouth saying Tony Abbott will increase the GST, full knowing this is a bare faced lie.
What a disgraceful liar he is, he gives Gillard a run for her money in that dept.
13-04-2015 01:59 PM - edited 13-04-2015 02:01 PM
@idlewhile wrote:Shorten running off at the mouth saying Tony Abbott will increase the GST, full knowing this is a bare faced lie.
What a disgraceful liar he is, he gives Gillard a run for her money in that dept.
Abbott has told more lies than anyone who was in office before him.
on 13-04-2015 02:55 PM
South Australian MP Bernard Finnigan has pleaded not guilty to child porn charges as his trial gets underway in court today.
The ex-Labor politician, who now sits as an independent in the state’s Legislative Assembly, is charged with one count of accessing child pornography and one count of attempting to access child pornography.
The prosecution opened its case by claiming Mr Finnigan's internet history showed he had accessed child pornography online on two occasions, visiting websites that depicted girls "well under 16-years-old".
His actions were called deliberate and intentional.
Mr Finnigan's lawyer Michael Abbott has flagged his intention to have the prosecution's evidence ruled inadmissable.
The court was later closed for the trial's one witness, a South Australia Police electronic crime expert.
Both charges faced by Mr Finnigan carry a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
Entire Article Here.
Creeps. The ALP sure does have 'em.