No Jab, No Pay, Medicare Doctors’ visits
E&OE
DAVID KOCH:
The Turnbull Government is taking stronger action to encourage parents to vaccinate their children. Welfare payments will now be cut by $28 a fortnight for each child who doesn’t meet immunisation requirements instead of taking a lump sum once a year. Joining us now is Social Services Minister Christian Porter. Good morning to you. Why the tougher stance?
MINISTER PORTER:
We’ve had great success so far with No Jab, No Pay in trying to get immunisation rates up. And we’re trying to push through this critical barrier of 95 per cent of the population being immunised. The No Pay part of the policy used to occur at the end of the year and we’re taking an even firmer approach and saying that if you don’t have your child immunised, that what you stand to lose is $28 a fortnight per child. Now the theory being that that more immediate consequence for not getting the child vaccinated and doing the right thing is going to increase even more rapidly the rates of immunisation and we’ve had great success so far.
DAVID KOCH:
Well tell us about that great success. What are the numbers?
MINISTER PORTER:
We’ve had 210,000 kids immunised that weren’t being immunised before …
DAVID KOCH:
Two-hundred-and-ten-thousand weren’t being immunised?
MINISTER PORTER:
Correct.
DAVID KOCH:
That’s a hell of a lot of kids.
MINISTER PORTER:
Well it was and the consequences of that was that we were dropping below 90 per cent in a whole range of immunisation categories. And for the first time, Kochie, we’re seeing the resurgence of diseases like polio, whooping cough, things that we should be able and had previously gotten rid of through vaccination rates. And one of the amazing things has been that say for instance with five year-old Indigenous kids, their rates are now above 95 per cent and their rates are higher in terms of vaccination than for non-Indigenous kids. So this is working.
DAVID KOCH:
Crazy. Alright. Good to see. Now while we’ve got you, your portfolio covers Medicare. There’s a report today in the Daily Telegraph that doctors want to scrap six-minute consultations. They say the quick appointments encourage over-prescription of antibiotics and they’re asking to be paid more for the longer 20 minute consultations. What do you reckon? Will you consider scrapping the six minute appointment? Have they got a point?
MINISTER PORTER:
Well I have a lot of things in my portfolio and $150 billion-odd worth of expenditure of taxpayers’ money through the welfare system. I don’t have Medicare I must say for my sins
DAVID KOCH:
Oh, I thought you did.
MINISTER PORTER:
No I don’t, but I do understand that issue and I’m sure that that’s one that Greg Hunt, the Health Minister, will work with GPs on. But there have been a variety of views about what the appropriate amount of minimum time spent with a GP should be and that’s a debate that’s been ongoing for some time I think.
DAVID KOCH:
What’s your view?
MINISTER PORTER:
Well look I’m not an expert I must say so I try not to stray too heavily into my colleague’s territory. But I’m sure that’s something that Greg will work through with his GP colleagues.
DAVID KOCH
Minister, thank you