Shalailah Medhora Wednesday 11 February 2015
Asked if the government will pursue widely criticised budget measures, embattled treasurer says, ‘We have no choice’
Joe Hockey leaves question time on Tuesday. He said proposed co-payments were a matter of fairness. Photograph: Stefan Postles/Getty Images
The government will persist with some of its least popular budget policies, including proposed changes to Medicare, according to the embattled treasurer, Joe Hockey.
When asked on the ABC’s 7.30 program on Tuesday if the government would pursue widely criticised budget savings measures, Hockey replied that it would, because “we have no choice”.
Earlier in the week, the prime minister, Tony Abbott, had promised his party room that no new changes to Medicare would be proposed without proper consultation with doctors’ groups. The health minister, Sussan Ley, is consulting with doctors’ and patients’ groups on plans to reduce the Medicare rebate by $5 for non-concessional adults.
Hockey spoke to Fairfax radio on Wednesday morning, saying the government had to “do what’s right for the country”. He said co-payments were a matter of fairness.
‘In Medicare I think it is unfair that when I go to the doctor I shouldn’t have to make a contribution,” Hockey said. “You, myself, the prime minister, Bill Shorten, we have the capacity to contribute something when we go to visit a doctor. If we do that we can make Medicare more sustainable in the future.”
The former treasurer Peter Costello told the Australian newspaper that abandoning budget policy measures now would amount to “letting down the country”.
“We have to do this because the situation is going to get more challenging, and unless we get our expenses and revenue back in equilibrium now, those changes will completely break the budget and the country in the years ahead,” Costello said.
Abbott has said he will not spring any further changes to Medicare on the Senate.
Clive Palmer, whose Palmer United party senators hold two key crossbench votes, has vowed to block the changes.
“Joe Hockey can’t get his cuts through the Senate,” Palmer said. “He doesn’t want to fool himself. There will be no change to the co-payment. We will oppose the co-payment.”
The prime minister is under increasing pressure to dump the treasurer in the wake of Abbott’s defeat of a leadership spill motion against him on Monday. Hockey has hit back at suggestions his job is on the line, saying he is “not in trouble”.
“I am the best person to do the job and I’m calling it as I see it,” he said.
Hockey said he hoped to be in the job “long term” but would not respond to “gossip” that the communications minister, Malcolm Turnbull, was angling to become treasurer.
Turnbull later said he had not suggested to the prime minister that he should become treasurer, nor been approached to fill the role.
“Everyone is expressing views, there is a bit of fantasy football going on,” Turnbull said.
The finance minister, Mathias Cormann, who until recently was Hockey’s deputy in the position of assistant minister, sidestepped questions about Hockey’s future, telling journalists that hiring and firing ministers was up to Abbott.
“All of us in the cabinet, me included, we all serve at the discretion of the prime minister and that is entirely a matter for the prime minister,” Cormann said.
Palmer was less equivocal. “It’s time to throw the guy out,” he said. “The prime minister said he would listen. If he’s really listening people don’t want these cuts, we live in a democracy. Goodbye Joe Hockey.”
Palmer added: “He’s a nice guy but his ideas are completely wrong. He’s listening to Treasury advice because he doesn’t know anything about economics and you can’t have a treasurer that doesn’t know anything about economics.”
Hockey said getting the budget back on track would be a big task.
“There is no easy solution,” he said. “There is no silver bullet, there is no easy path here. Either we reduce our spending in order to live within our means or we have to increase taxes, which at the end of the day costs people their jobs.”
Cormann said the government was considering how best to proceed with the 2015 budget. “Yes we were very ambitious, yes we were very bold in last year’s budget, and with the benefit of hindsight, it appears we may have bitten off more than we can chew,” he said.
“It’s certainly a lesson that we have learnt from last year, and it will guide our thinking and our attitude and approach this year.”
Joe Hockey vows to persist with changes to Medicare | Australia news | The Guardian
