"Our position is unequivocal, it's in black and white," he said. Labor leader Bill Shorten has announced the opposition will move to disallow the $20 cut in Medicare rebate for short GP visits. Credit:Michelle Smith "We will oppose Tony Abbott changing the rebate system for our GPs, making it a lot harder and through this sneaky backdoor method," he told reporters. "We will say to Tony Abbott, you are not going to damage the Medicare system if we've got anything to do with it." The opposition - combined with the Greens and four crossbench senators, including Nick Xenophon, Glenn Lazarus, Ricky Muir and Jacqui Lambie - will form the 39 votes needed to strike down the change.

The cuts are due to come into effect on January 19, but will require the Parliament's endorsement when it first meets in February. Prime Minister Tony Abbott, pictured at the PM's XI in Canberra on Wednesday, has defended his government's decision to cut the rebate. Credit:Andrew Meares The changes were announced by Health Minister Sussan Ley's predecessor, Peter Dutton, as part of the changes to the proposed $7 fee to visit the GP at the end of 2014. Mr Dutton announced the government would cut the amount it subsidises bulk-billed doctors visits by $20.10 to combat the so-called practice of "six-minute medicine". Doctors currently receive a Medicare rebate worth $37.05 whether they see a patient for six or 20 minutes. Critics argue this leads to doctors scheduling shorter appointments.

The Australian Medical Association says under the new "10-minute rule" the $20 difference in government subsidies is likely to be passed on – meaning some patients who have previously seen their GP for free will now pay. "That's going to be a big difference and I think for many GPs these changes will really be seen as a slap in the face," AMA president Brian Owler said. Associate Professor Owler said the government's cabinet reshuffle and political reset just before Christmas were useless unless the Coalition realised "the problem is the actual policy". Earlier on Wednesday, Prime Minister Tony Abbott defended the change, saying it will encourage GPs to spend more time with their patients. He said doctors should be welcoming the changes because they will see shorter visits funded at a lower rate and longer visits funded at a higher rate.

"Exactly how much patients are charged is always a question for the doctors but these government changes are designed to try to ensure that doctors spend a reasonable amount of time with their patients," he said on 3AW. "Just a few months ago, the AMA were saying that they didn't want to see six-minute medicine, they didn't want to support bulk-billing clinics, they wanted to see doctors spending more time with their patients and that's exactly what these changes are designed to produce." But Mr Abbott acknowledged the move to cut the rebate was a "difficult" but necessary decision because, without "tough choices", the cost of Medicare would spiral out of control - from $8 billion a decade ago to $34 billion in a decade's time. He called on critics to show their own plans to come up with savings needed to pay off the deficit and country's debt. "The Labor Party is consistently sabotaging our attempts to solve the problem that they have created," he said.

"The crossbench, it seems, is prepared to go along with the Labor Party at times. "I say to all of the critics: 'if you don't like what we are doing come up with your alternative because we simply cannot go on as a government and as a country living beyond our means'," he said. When asked how he planned on making Medicare sustainable, Mr Shorten did not offer any savings measures and only said the opposition would form health policies that were good for Medicare. Loading Follow us on Twitter