Senator Duncan Spender of the Liberal Democrats has slammed the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners for endorsing Labor's big government agenda and demanding lump sum cash payments from taxpayers.
"Through their power-hungry lobby group, GPs are joining politicians as professionals not to be trusted," he stated.
"The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners will be littering GP clinics with propaganda telling patients to vote for increased government spending on GPs, rather than for tax cuts. This is clear campaigning for Labor.
"The propaganda from the lobby group also demands that GPs receive lump sum payments from taxpayers, on top of the existing taxpayer-funded subsidies they receive. This is pure greed.
"The lobby group claim that lump sum payments would compensate GPs for talking with patients on the phone or via email. Next they will be asking for compensation for smiling at patients as they pass them in the street. The lump sum payments won't be conditional on GPs actually making a certain number of phone calls or emails.
"This is the same lobby group that advertises GPs as 'your specialist in life'. They are delusional. They really believe that having a medical degree means you are an expert on everything life throws your way. They really believe they should tell you how to live. This lobby group is actually making GPs look creepy.
"The Liberal Democrats support massive tax cuts and replacing the system of complicated taxpayer-funded subsidies to GPs with a means-tested medical expenses and insurance subsidy to individuals. This would mean that GPs would need to satisfy patients, rather than bureaucrats, to make their living," he concluded.
