Elizabeth Lee statement on shameful act by Labor-Greens members to have unfair GP tax bill ruled out of order

This morning in the Assembly every Labor and Greens member voted to have my Private Member’s Bill to abolish Andrew Barr’s unfair tax on GPs ruled out of order.

This is an unscrupulous and desperate move by this Labor-Greens government to avoid scrutiny over the decision Andrew Barr has taken to impose this unfair tax on GPs.

There is clear precedence, published in the Assembly’s own Companion to the Standing Orders and outlined in the advice from the Clerk of the Assembly from yesterday of multiple occasions where non-executive members had successfully presented bills which, had they been passed, would have resulted in an impact on revenue.

On those occasions, not only did the government of the day allow debate; indeed the Speaker of the day did not rule them out of order unilaterally.

In spite of the clear evidence that we presented, every single member of the Labor Party and the Greens voted in favour of the Speaker’s ruling that it be deemed out of order.

This is a new low from this Labor-Greens government in shutting down debate on an issue that will have a devastating impact on thousands of Canberrans.

The action by Andrew Barr in the ACT Legislative Assembly this morning will not stop the Opposition standing up for our hard-working GPs and for the thousands of Canberrans that will find it harder to access essential health care.

The Canberra Liberals, if elected at the next ACT Election, will abolish this unfair tax on GPs.