For GPs like my mum, payroll tax is an act of betrayal

Victorians well remember their ex-Premier, Dan Andrews, fronting up to his daily media COVID update in his North Face swag. Gripping the lectern, he’d diligently itemise the number of new cases, hospital admissions, and tests taken, before expressing his deep gratitude to all frontline healthcare workers with his trademark sign-off on behalf of all Victorians: ‘we thank you.’ 

My mum, Dr Sally Lapin, a GP in Armadale, was one such frontline worker who received Dan’s thanks. At 70 years old, she was considered high risk for requiring hospitalisation were she to contract COVID-19. Despite the cautionary advice of family members, mum felt it her duty to turn up to work and help protect her community. How could she expect her younger GP colleagues to put themselves in harm’s way if she was unwilling to do so herself?

As the daughter of a Country GP in Korumburra, a small town in Gippsland, mum’s sense of community was spliced into her DNA. A knock on the family home front door in the early hours invariably signified sickness or accident. Mum would open the door to a farmer carrying a feverish child and a basket of tomatoes, which my late grandfather duly accepted as he guided them towards the backroom. In Korumburra, you paid what you could afford.

This philosophy followed my mum as she walked in her family footsteps, from her humble beginnings as a solo GP, to the larger practice she works in today. Her patients are much more than the sum of their ailments. Any patient who is doing it tough – whether they be a student, single parent or recently out of work – is bulk billed as a matter of principle. They can walk out of her consultation room able to afford their groceries with their heads held high.

The suburb of Armadale backs onto the Jewish enclave of Caulfield. Over the last few months, my mum has listened to the harrowing stories of her patients with loved ones caught up in the massacre, their sons and daughters now recruited to the front lines. Sometimes, healthcare is delivered best by holding hands and a full box of tissues. 

Mum’s delayed retirement has become a sort of family joke, but this time she’s absolutely, positively put a stake in the ground: 2024. COVID took a lot out of her. She jabbed a lot of arms and absorbed a lot of patient heartache. She even risked her own health because she felt a duty to her community. Once upon a time, the Victorian ex-Premier’s gratitude genuinely meant something.  But now those words of thanks, ring starkly hollow. 

Victoria remains the only state government that hasn’t provided an amnesty or concession on a payroll tax for GPs. Having asked more of its frontline healthcare workers than any other state, this tax grab goes beyond thanklessness. It amounts to an act of betrayal. Post-COVID, 73% of GPs had experienced burnout while 25% planned to leave the profession in the following  5 years. You can hardly blame them. 

A Payroll Tax on GPs is just as striking in its shortsightedness. HotDoc’s recent white paper on the Impact of Payroll Tax on Healthcare Accessibility, highlights the severe impact of this change with 74% of clinics reporting that they are already under significant financial strain, and 16% reporting that the additional costs from these changes could force them to shut down. Faced with no other options, clinics that can remain open will have to pass on these costs to their patients. This increasing lack of primary care affordability will ultimately place intolerable strain on our already beleaguered state hospital system. 

Talk about robbing Peter to pay Paul.

Thankfully, my mum will be ok. She has two beautiful grandchildren to babysit and lots of cryptic crossword puzzles to solve. But she worries for her patients and her colleagues. This latest payroll tax change will make it so much harder for vulnerable patients to get the help they need. The type of care that she and her father dedicated their careers to may not be long for this world.