LNP government must meet health promises

AMA Queensland looks forward to working with the incoming LNP state government on implementing its commitments for Queensland’s health system following this weekend’s state election.

“We congratulate LNP Leader David Crisafulli on his election as Premier,” AMA Queensland President Dr Nick Yim said.

“At the same time, we thank the outgoing Premier Steven Miles and Health Minister Shannon Fentiman for their efforts for the Queensland community.

“The Labor Government took extraordinary measures to protect Queenslanders from COVID-19 until a vaccine was available. This saved thousands of lives, particularly among our most vulnerable communities.

“The outgoing government also made the flu vaccine free for all Queenslanders, made the Meningococcal B vaccine free for teenagers, and made the RSV immunisation free for babies – all measures that have made Queensland a public health leader in Australia.

“Queensland has seen unprecedented population growth in the past four years that has stretched our health system.

“Both major parties made tackling our healthcare workforce crisis their top priorities.

“We will be urging Premier Crisafulli and his new Health Minister to retain initiatives put in place by the outgoing government, including workforce attraction incentives for regional doctors, grants to assist junior doctors to train as GPs, and assistance for regional GPs to upskill in obstetrics and anaesthetics – skills that are critically needed in regional Queensland.

“We also look forward to seeing more detail on the LNP’s promises to cut ambulance ramping and elective surgery wait lists.

“AMA Queensland has given clear recommendations to all political parties on how to address these issues through our Roundtable Action Plans.

“The LNP was the first party to commit to an exemption for GPs from the new interpretation of payroll tax. We will hold them to this promise and continue to advocate for all private medical practices to be exempt from payroll tax.

“We will also hold the LNP to the commitment to no change to existing termination of pregnancy laws.

“We will urge the new government to reconsider its last-minute short-sighted drug policies. The proposal on the second last day of the campaign to repeal drug diversion laws and cancel pill testing services at Schoolies is dangerous and goes against the advice of medical, legal and police experts.

“We will also encourage the LNP to abandon the outgoing government’s unproven and costly services that fragment care such as pharmacy prescribing, satellite hospitals and nurse-led walk-in clinics rather than spending it in our existing hospitals and general practices.

“It is not too late for the incoming government to scrap these proposals.”

AMA Queensland is the state’s leading medical body and advocates for patients, the community, and the medical profession.

The AMA Queensland Election Commitments Scorecard 2024 is available here. The AMA Queensland Election Priorities 2024 is here.