Medicare GP co-payment: Treasurer Joe Hockey rejects Peter Costello’s advice, pushes ahead with $7 fee plan

Updated

Federal Treasurer Joe Hockey is forging ahead with plans for an unpopular Medicare GP co-payment, rejecting advice from former Liberal treasurer Peter Costello to scrap it.

On the ABC's AM program this morning, Mr Hockey rebuffed his predecessor who declared the $7 GP co-payment would not pass the Senate.

Mr Costello said Mr Hockey should cut his losses and drop the planned budget measure.

"It's not good advice because frankly our budget is part of an overarching economic action strategy that has a number of different component parts," Mr Hockey said.

"Putting a price signal in relation to visits to the doctor and ensuring that the Medicare system is sustainable is a key part of that program. We are facing a Medicare system that is growing in excess of 7 per cent per annum."

He says the Medicare GP co-payment is not dead.

"Don't count your chickens before they're hatched," he said. "I think people are getting a little ahead of themselves."

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten says the Treasurer should dump his budget and start again.

"Who does Joe Hockey listen to other than the person in the mirror?" Mr Shorten said.

"No-one wants his changes - not even Peter Costello.

"Joe Hockey, you have a problem when even Peter Costello is disowning your budget. If he thinks you've gone too far, chances are you have gone too far.

"Time to admit you got it wrong, do a new budget or give the Australian people the chance to determine what they think of your budget."

Labor has today also launched an online petition against the Government's higher education changes, under the slogan, "A Degree Shouldn't be a Debt Sentence".

The Government announced in the budget that it wanted to deregulate university fees, increase the interest rate on student loans and ask students to pay back the loans sooner.

Education Minister Christopher Pyne has signalled he is open to changing some of the measures, particularly the higher interest rate.

Mr Shorten says the minister is "backpedalling".

"Now Christopher Pyne seems in the mood to get any change through, so he doesn't have egg on his face," he said.

"This is not about Christopher Pyne or his ego or his bad ideas. I'm interested in what gives Australian young people the best future."

On another front, Mr Hockey last week threatened to attach the Government's multi-billion-dollar fund for infrastructure projects, the asset recycling fund, to an appropriations bill, in order to bypass the hostile Senate.

Under the plan, the states would be paid a bonus if they privatised assets and used the money for building projects.

Senate rejection of an appropriations bill would effectively shut down the Government.

But Parliamentary Library advice sought by Labor found the threat would fail.

The advice stated: "It is often incorrectly assumed that the Senate has no power over appropriation bills, and in this case the Treasurer appears to be making that erroneous assumption too".

It says the Government will still have to negotiate with Labor, the Greens, the Palmer United Party and crossbench senators.

Mr Hockey says he will bypass the parliament if he has to and include the legislation in the appropriation bills.

Opposition spokesman Anthony Albanese says the Parliamentary Library has revealed there are other options for Labor to take.

A spokeswoman for Mr Hockey says the Parliamentary Library advice is not being disputed, but it is surprising the Opposition did not go to the Clerk for constitutional legal advice.

Infrastructure rollouts will create jobs: Hockey

The Treasurer says that with a 6.4 per cent unemployment rate in Australia, Labor should be supporting the infrastructure asset recycling fund.

"I am surprised the Labor Party is so determined to stop the rollout of in excess of $40 billion of new infrastructure that is part of our budget, which is going to create tens of thousands of new jobs across Australia," he told AM.

"We have a rising unemployment rate at the moment. The budget lays down a clear path to roll out infrastructure, such as the 10,000 jobs which are going to be created with the West Connex project in Sydney, [and] 6,000 jobs that start rolling out before the end of this year with the East West program in Melbourne and so on."

Mr Hockey, who has spent the last couple of weeks travelling the country meeting with crossbench senators who also have their own list of budget demands, says he still wants to talk about the asset recycling fund.

"We deal with everyone on all the issues. Our door is very much open.

"Having said that, the Labor Party and the Greens are simply playing politics, which is hugely disappointing, because it's going to cost jobs.

"We are determined to rely on the best available information provided by the States in relation to the asset recycling fund and importantly, we have our own infrastructure rollout, which is getting on with the job of creating more jobs."

The Treasurer is also more philosophical about the task ahead.

Voter support for the Coalition has slumped in the wake of the May Budget, which critics have described as unfair.

After last week publicly decrying the Budget sell as "bloody hard" and revealing that he felt like "everyone was against him", Mr Hockey today said the Government would deal with the Senate and economic conditions handed to it.

"This is not unusual, by the way. It is not unusual to have various Budget initiatives held up in discussions in the Senate," he said.

"I mean, I remember the new tax system reforms after we'd won an election on them in 1998. It took a long time in negotiation with the Democrats to get it through. And it didn't get through in its original form. So these are the sorts of things that do happen."

Topics: budget, government-and-politics, health, hockey-joe, australia

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