AMA rapt with coalition scrap the cap call
AMA President, Dr Steve Hambleton, said today that the Coalition has shown a strong commitment to education and medical excellence with its call on the Government to scrap the proposed cap on work-related self-education expenses.
Dr Hambleton said the AMA strongly welcomes the Coalition call to scrap the cap, which is effectively a tax on learning.
The Shadow Minister for Education, Apprenticeships and Training, Christopher Pyne, made the call following a meeting with a Scrap the Cap Alliance delegation, which included Dr Hambleton, at his electorate office in Adelaide this morning.
Dr Hambleton said the AMA and the Alliance have been lobbying the Government for months to publicly guarantee that genuine professional development such as medical training would be exempt from the proposed tax changes.
“We have been asking for a simple explanation from the Government that it did not intend to send medical education in Australia back to the Dark Ages,” Dr Hambleton said.
“The proposed cap on self-education would be a huge disincentive for doctors, especially young doctors and rural doctors, to improve their skills and provide better medical care to their patients and communities.
“The cap is a new tax – it is a tithe on training, a levy on learning, and an excise on excellence.
“The AMA is pleased that Shadow Minister Pyne and the Coalition have recognised the harm that would be caused by the cap and have now joined the growing chorus to scrap it.”
The AMA is a founding member of the Scrap the Cap Alliance, which now has more than 60 member organisations covering more than 1.6 million professionals, including universities, nurses, engineers, accountants, lawyers, veterinarians, allied health professionals, and small business operators.
For more information on the Scrap the Cap Alliance and campaign go tohttp://www.scrapthecap.com.au/
25 July 2013
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