A press conference in Sydney has heard the payroll tax is a "patient tax" which will "turbocharge the decline of bulkbilling".
The AMA President, the AMA (NSW) President and Sydney GP Dr Aziz Iboyan held a press conference in Sydney last Friday, calling for a halt to NSW Government plans to broaden the application of payroll tax to include GPs.
Standing outside Dr Iboyan's Hornsby practice, in the electorate of the NSW Treasurer Matt Kean, Professor Robson said the NSW government's decision would impact the rest of the country.
Professor Robson said the payroll tax was a "patient tax".
"State and Territory governments around the country are looking to see if they too can get away with this greedy tax grab on some of Australia's sickest people. The NSW Government and Mr Kean have the opportunity to do the right thing by the patients of Australia and we're hoping they make the right choice," he said.
AMA (NSW) President Dr Michael Bonning said the payroll tax changes would "turbocharge the decline of bulk billing."
"The New South Wales Government has had the opportunity to act and needs to act on this to make sure that general practice is accessible, especially to those patients who are most vulnerable."
Dr Iboyan said a payroll tax would cause further fragmentation of continuity of the care.
"We're very concerned as general practitioners, and we don't see any positives if this tax is implemented. I have to say that medical centres are already operating under big stress, and this will cause additional stress on them which we want to avoid at all costs. We do understand that our patients are of the same opinion," he said.
A state election will be held on 25 March, in NSW.
