To the Honourable the Speaker and the Members of the House of Representatives assembled in Parliament:

The petition of certain residents of the State of NSW draws to the attention of the House that we the undersigned are totally opposed to the restriction of issuing of provider numbers to registered doctors unless they have entered a recognised training program, are vocationally registered or are a qualified specialist. We consider that such an action would cause serious suffering, including a severe disadvantage to women and rural communities and medical research. We believe that it is the essential right of all Australian registered doctors to have access to provider numbers that allow them to provide services which can attract Medicare rebates. We believe that such restrictions are an attack on the most defenceless and vulnerable strata of the medical profession and will not achieve the projected savings which it purports to do. We consider it to be a denial of natural justice, an attack on Medicare and un-Australian.

Your petitioners therefore request the House to:

Call upon the Federal Minister for Health the Hon. Michael Wooldridge MP, to enter into meaningful discussions with representatives of those groups most affected by the harsh and unconscionable decisions of his government.