Incoming Health Minister Greg Hunt says he wants to establish a better relationship with the nation's GPs amid the ongoing conflict over the government's decision to maintain a freeze on the Medicare rebate.
Named by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Wednesday to replace resigned minister Sussan Ley, Mr Hunt declined to discuss his thoughts on the freeze, which has angered doctors by capping the amount they are reimbursed.
More National News Videos
- Video duration
- 02:14
New Health minister opens up
New Health minister opens up
Greg Hunt reveals why he's happy to be named the new Health minister and what he sees for the future of Australia's health system. Courtesy ABC News 24.
Up Next
Police crackdown on city homeless camps
- Video duration
- 01:38
- Video duration
- 01:38
Police crackdown on city homeless camps
Police crackdown on city homeless camps
Police move into a homeless camp outside Flinders Street station as more and more people flock to the busy intersection ahead of the Australian Open.
Up Next
Baird felt 'personal cost in public life'
- Video duration
- 01:49
- Video duration
- 01:49
Baird felt 'personal cost in public life'
Baird felt 'personal cost in public life'
NSW Premier Mike Baird has announced he will retire from politics to help his parents and sister cope with 'serious health challenges'. Vision courtesy ABC News 24.
Up Next
Baird's first day as premier
- Video duration
- 01:37
- Video duration
- 01:37
Baird's first day as premier
Baird's first day as premier
After more than one gift gag to the start the day, NSW's new premier Mike Baird later found himself part of the royal roadshow, in April 2014.
Up Next
You've played a great innings: Turnbull
- Video duration
- 01:26
- Video duration
- 01:26
You've played a great innings: Turnbull
You've played a great innings: Turnbull
There've been fond farewells for NSW Premier Mike Baird from Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten. Courtesy ABC News 24.
Up Next
Billboard didn't bother me: Dutton
- Video duration
- 01:46
- Video duration
- 01:46
Billboard didn't bother me: Dutton
Billboard didn't bother me: Dutton
Following the decision to remove a billboard in Melbourne featuring girls wearing hijabs, the Immigration minister says he wasn't offended by it and people shouldn't abandon their beliefs. Courtesy 3AW.
Up Next
Mike Baird retires from politics
- Video duration
- 02:09
- Video duration
- 02:09
Mike Baird retires from politics
Mike Baird retires from politics
NSW Premier Mike Baird has announced he is stepping away from politics. Vision courtesy ABC News 24.
Up Next
Who are the Apex gang?
- Video duration
- 00:52
- Video duration
- 00:52
Who are the Apex gang?
Who are the Apex gang?
Find out more about the gang that rioted in Melbourne's CBD with no clubhouse, no colours and no real structure. As reported in March 2016.
New Health minister opens up
Greg Hunt reveals why he's happy to be named the new Health minister and what he sees for the future of Australia's health system. Courtesy ABC News 24.
But one of Mr Hunt's first conversations, in a telephone call made within 10 minutes of Mr Turnbull's announcement, was with Australian Medical Association head Michael Gannon, who told him GPs often felt "undervalued" in Australia.
"I want to re-establish that value - their role, their importance, their trust in the community," Mr Hunt said. "I do again want to repeat that for GPs, I want to be their health minister."
Related Content
Dr Gannon told Fairfax Media he believed Mr Hunt was "very much" receptive to ending the rebate freeze. "I do believe that is genuinely desired by both Mr Hunt and the government as a whole," he said.
The AMA boss revealed he had also been in communication over the past fortnight with Mr Turnbull via the messenging service WhatsApp.
He said the medical profession would co-operate much more effectively with existing government reviews of the medical benefits schedule, healthcare at home trial and private insurance review if cabinet and the expenditure review committee agreed to lift the rebate freeze.
"It needs to happen," he said.
Mr Hunt's promotion came as part of a minor reshuffle necessitated by Ms Ley's resignation following an expenses scandal. Mr Hunt will also take up her old sports portfolio, while NSW senator Arthur Sinodinos will take over Mr Hunt's role as industry minister.
Ms Ley's aged-care portfolio will be taken by Ken Wyatt, who becomes Minister for Aged Care and Indigenous Health - and the first Indigenous person to hold a federal ministry.
There were also changes to the junior ministry, with conservative Liberal backbencher Michael Sukkar promoted to the role of assistant minister to Treasurer Scott Morrison.
Fairfax Media understands the Victorian MP's responsibilities will include housing affordability, the "effects test" under consumer law and some aspects of foreign investment.
The limited reshuffle announced on Wednesday was an attempt to portray stability after a rocky start to 2017 for the Turnbull government, hit by numerous claims of travel entitlement abuse and controversy around Centrelink's automatic debt-recovery regime.
"This is not a major reshuffle. It is driven by the consequence of one resignation," Mr Turnbull said. "We have a very strong team and it is one that is performing outstandingly."
The PM said he enjoyed an "extraordinary range of talent on the backbench" and welcomed the opportunity to welcome new talent to his team of ministers and assistant ministers.
The health portfolio is seen as vital, given Labor's political advantage in that area and the successful "Mediscare" campaign it ran at the last election, from which the Coalition is still reeling.
Mr Hunt highlighted mental health as an issue "very close to my heart", and said he believed deeply in the importance of Medicare and the public health system. "We are already outstanding but we can be even better," he said.
But Labor's health spokeswoman Catherine King immediately went on the attack, accusing the government of continuing to punish GPs. "Malcolm Turnbull has changed his salesperson when it comes to health, but he hasn't changed a single one of his policies," she said.
Doctors, led by the powerful AMA, have campaigned against the government's continuation of the Medicare rebate freeze, a Labor-era measure that stalled the amount reimbursed to GPs from the government at $37 per consultation.
Dr Gannon said he had a good relationship with Ms Ley but there was "dismay and the anger among GPs" about the freeze, and they felt they had been "undervalued by governments of both persuasions for 25 years".
Ms Ley stepped aside from the portfolio earlier this month after it was revealed she bought an $800,000 investment property while on a taxpayer-funded trip to the Gold Coast, among several other questionable travel claims including expensive charter flights between capital cities. She later resigned from the position.
Senator Sinodinos had been considered an early favourite to take on the health role but was instead handed Mr Hunt's industry portfolio, which includes the PM's beloved topic of innovation.
Highly respected by colleagues, Senator Sinodinos was sidelined in 2014 after being engulfed in an ICAC inquiry affecting the NSW Liberal Party. ICAC has not yet released its findings in that inquiry, Operation Credo, but no findings of corruption have been recommended against Senator Sinodinos.
Mr Turnbull installed Senator Sinodinos as cabinet secretary after ousting Tony Abbott in order to "restore traditional cabinet processes". The functioning of cabinet and the role of Mr Abbott's chief of staff Peta Credlin was a major gripe among Coalition MPs under the former PM's tenure.
The role of cabinet secretary will return to the Prime Minister's office. Altogether the changes reduce the size of cabinet by one, and the number of women in cabinet will be reduced to five of 22.