Dr Hambleton, Doorstop, tax deductions for work-related self-education expenses

Transcript:     AMA President Dr Steve Hambleton, Doorstop Parliament House, 6 November 2013

Subjects:         Proposed $2000 cap on tax deductions for work-related self-education expenses, COAG Report and Medibank Private

STEVE HAMBLETON:      Thank you very much everyone for coming here today, we'd really like to congratulate the Government for a victory for common sense.

The scrapping of the $2000 cap was something that we've asked for, that we've certainly said to the previous Government it was not appropriate policy. The AMA was probably the first group to come out to actually recognise the impact of this. It was going to have a huge impact on junior doctors, a huge impact on rural doctors, and a huge impact on the medical profession's ability to stay up to date. Of course, when we examined it further, we realised there was a whole lot of other professions that this would have impacted on, so we congratulate the Government for actually understanding, hearing the message, and delivering an outcome which is quite appropriate for the medical care of Australians.

This means Australian doctors will be able to stay up to date, they'll be able to maintain their position as first-world care in this country, maintain the self-education, look after the people of Australia.

QUESTION:  Wasn't this cap introduced to stop lawyers and doctors taking very fancy junkets to Vienna, and Morocco; what's to stop abuse of the scheme now?

STEVE HAMBLETON:      Well, this was rhetoric put out by the previous Treasurer and, of course, there are mechanisms currently to make sure that - first class airfares, five star hotels, simply don't happen. We're not defending that, we're actually defending the right of professions to properly self-educate, to stay up to date, and certainly we would suggest they turn to the mechanisms that already exist to make sure that if any of those things are not happening.

QUESTION:  So, couldn't the Government have just lifted the cap rather than abolish it altogether?

STEVE HAMBLETON:      Well, the problem is that young doctors are spending an enormous amount of money on self-education, in some cases up to $40,000. So, lifting the cap wasn't appropriate, removing the cap so that legitimate expenses, the ones that would be acceptable to the Australian people, to say this is legitimate education expense, it should be paid for. Our rural doctors, of course, who are particularly hit, as well as our junior doctors, just travelling to a capital city to actually attend a conference, often went over the cap, and this would have had a devastating effect on their ability to stay up to date.

QUESTION: ?

STEVE HAMBLETON:      Well, we've got a new Government so we've got a new approach. We've seen the Prime Minister say he's going to engage with the Premiers. We know the problems, we know that there's a blame game in our hospitals, that hasn't been solved. We know that there's different funding mechanisms for our hospitals now. So, look, we've got a new Government, I think a new focus, a new strengthening of that relationship between the states and Federal Government needs to happen to make sure we can deliver those common goals.

QUESTION:  Dr Hambleton, does the AMA have any concerns about the Federal Government selling off Medibank Private?

STEVE HAMBLETON:      Yes, we do have concerns and when we looked at this issue a number of years ago. Our main concern was that there may be potential for decreased competition in this industry. If that's the case, that will drive up premiums for everyone. So, as part of this scoping study that's being done to prepare for the decision about the sale, we would like to see that addressed. We want to understand about whether competition will be decreased, whether there is a risk of premiums, because that'll affect us all.

It's a very fine balance between the public and private sector in this country, and we know that you don't have the capacity in public hospitals if there's a major shift away from the private system.

QUESTION:  Does the AMA have a view on how that competition issue can best be managed?

STEVE HAMBLETON:      Well, I think we'd like to see the results of the scoping study and understand the issues. Certainly the two options that have been put out there are a trade sale, and if it's a trade sale to one of the other players then that decreases the number of players. Certainly, if there are international sales, I mean, that may bring in some further risk. So, we'd like to see the results of the scoping study.

QUESTION:  Who actually owns Medibank Private? I mean, if it is sold, shouldn't the members be given the money, not the Government?

STEVE HAMBLETON:      Well, currently the revenue that's retained by Medibank Private is from member subscription, so in reality it's all the members that own that business, and the people of Australia benefit from it because it's in public ownership.

QUESTION:  So the members should get the money if it's sold then?

STEVE HAMBLETON:      Well, I think we need to think about asking those questions in the scoping study. You know, what is the impact of the sale? What about the people that paid premiums, what happens to them in the long run?

Thanks guys.

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                        Kirsty Waterford                  02 6270 5464 / 0427 209 753