Missed opportunity in Leaders' Debate
The next two Leaders' Debates give both the Premier and the Opposition Leader opportunities to outline their long-term strategies to fix Queensland's healthcare workforce shortages before election day, AMA Queensland President Dr Nick Yim has told ABC Brisbane. "We just don't have enough doctors, nurses, allied health. And we do need a long-term strategy to train them from the student stage, through the hospital stage, and at the same time, we need a strategy to recruit people and, at the other end, actually retain people."
Transcript: AMA Queensland President, Dr Nick Yim, ABC Brisbane, Mornings with Craig Zonca and Loretta Ryan, Friday 4 October 2024
Subjects: Leaders’ debate; healthcare workforce shortage; payroll tax
CRAIG ZONCA: I want to go to the Australian Medical Association Queensland because obviously health is another hot button issue. Dr Nick Yim is the President of AMA Queensland. Good morning to you, Dr Yim.
DR NICK YIM: Good morning, Craig.
CRAIG ZONCA: Your take on the debate. Did it meet what you were hoping to see from either of the major parties?
DR NICK YIM: It was quite a split debate from both parties. This would have been a great opportunity for both sides of politics to address some of the key challenges. One of the big challenges that we're facing in Queensland is workforce. We just don't have enough doctors, nurses, allied health. And we do need a long-term strategy to train them from the student stage, through the hospital stage, and at the same time, we need a strategy to recruit people and, at the other end, actually retain people. So it was a little bit disappointing that it wasn't addressed. It's something where we do need that because we are having a big shortage and it's going to potentially be over the cliff in the next couple of years.
CRAIG ZONCA: So do you have the answer, Dr Yim, in terms of that workforce issue?
DR NICK YIM: As part of our AMA Queensland Election Priorities that we submitted to both parties, there are some suggestions there. We have the Surgical Wait List Roundtable that create incentives to potentially recruit people. But at the same time, we do need incentives to retain the people in the regions, because what we're hearing is it's challenging. It's a highly competitive space across all states of Australia.
CRAIG ZONCA: You say that this was in many ways then a missed opportunity. We still have a number of weeks before we head to the polls. Are you hopeful that you will hear more, particularly around this workforce issue?
DR NICK YIM: Absolutely. This is something that we're really advocating on. We've been working really hard and having meetings with both sides of politics even before the election. This is high on the agenda for AMA Queensland, because we do need to ensure that there's adequate workforce to ensure the health of our communities.
What we heard last night from the LNP with their payroll tax exemption for general practice, that's really important. We were hoping that maybe Steven Miles, the Premier, could also acknowledge that commitment as well, because we know that primary care is a cornerstone. And at the same time, we need to ensure that our non-GP specialists have that certainty as well from that payroll tax and not get slugged with unexpected tax bills down the track. So that's also something where we hope that we can get commitment from the government.
CRAIG ZONCA: Yeah, I've just got some audio from the debate around that, the Opposition Leader David Crisafulli trying to land blows on the Premier over what David Crisafulli referred to as a patient tax.
DAVID CRISAFULLI: We're going to get rid of Labor's patient tax. Now if you speak to the GPs –
STEVEN MILES: There is no such thing, David.
DAVID CRISAFULLI: Well -
STEVEN MILES: There is no such thing.
DAVID CRISAFULLI: I'm sorry, Premier -
STEVEN MILES: So is any doctor paying a patient tax right now?
DAVID CRISAFULLI: I'm -
STEVEN MILES: Not a single one.
DAVID CRISAFULLI: It comes in after the election. It comes in after the election, which is what is so sneaky about –
STEVEN MILES: It’s made up, David.
CRAIG ZONCA: So it's not a patient tax. This is about GPs and what payroll tax obligations they may have, Nick Yim, is that right?
DR NICK YIM: So about three years ago there was a change in interpretation of the payroll tax. So general practitioners, doctors, they are contractors. Currently as it stands, the medical centre provides services - receptionists, nurses – and we already pay payroll tax on those employees. It's more of the change in interpretation of the legislation that came in three years ago. We do commend the government for having an amnesty to July 2025. But what's going to happen after that? Because there are some changes in the federal landscape of the flow of funds.
CRAIG ZONCA: Okay. Well, we'll watch this space with interest on that front and many more as we head towards the state election on the 26th of October. Dr Nick Yim, thanks for your time this morning.
DR NICK YIM: Thank you. Craig.
