Elliot & Saffin must fight Rudd axe to incentives for North Coast GPs

North Coast families should be deeply concerned at the Rudd Government’s refusal to rule out cutting incentive payments for doctors practising in regional Australia, according to Nationals Senator Fiona Nash. “If these cuts go ahead in next month’s Budget, it will widen the city-country health gap and prove once and for all how ineffective Labor’s North Coast federal MPs are,” Senator Nash said. “Richmond MP Justine Elliot was elected on the back of advertisements promising “Kevin Rudd will fix our hospitals”. “Page MP Janelle Saffin won her seat with pledges to improve health services in Lismore and Grafton.” “Both Labor MPs also boasted about the establishment of local GP Super Clinics, which are obviously useless without GPs.” “It is just not good enough for Mrs Elliot and Ms Saffin to now stand by in silence while their party implements policies that will inevitably result in fewer GPs on the North Coast.” “We already have a health crisis on the North Coast thanks to the NSW Labor State Government’s chronic mismanagement of local hospitals, through the embattled North Coast Area Health Service.” “Cutting GP numbers would make things much worse,” Senator Nash concluded. Contact: Murray Lees, media adviser, 0417 406 338

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