Yeah. Now doctors can take the heat instead.
The whole 10 minutes thing is curious though. I mean does that mean making all consultations 10 minutes or more mean they evade the 5$ loss?
If this goes through expect bulk billing to be a thing of the past. They can't get enough GP's as it is, if the GP's end up paying for this (You can bet the big providers won't be paying for it) they will see around a 10-15% cut in wages. Not happening, the GP's will move elsewhere. Once one big provider stops bulk billing to hold onto GP's they'll all follow, most probably past the $5 fee to recoup the costs of lower numbers. Bottom line, the patient will end up paying, they'll just blame the GP instead of Tony Abbott.
And don't forget GP's are some of the lowest paid when compared to other medical specialists in Australia. So the most important field in medicine, the front line, is paid lower than all the others and they shit on them again for fun. Who as a newly qualified Doctor would even consider going into General Practice when they can earn double in other fields.