Mr Bowen called the idea "extraordinary" and said it demonstrated the widespread anger over the co-payment proposal.
The Senate – where the PUP will control four votes from 1 July – will ultimately decide the fate of the latest co-payment proposal.
The AMA said the measure made up part of the government's $5 GP co-payment proposal, abandoned by Abbott when he was prime minister in December last year.
But Mr. Vallone offered a carefully detailed payment proposal, from using funds saved by hiring civilians to do some of the work of uniformed police officers to diverting money from the tobacco settlement to better collection of parking tickets.
NSW premier Mike Baird will host an emergency meeting of state and territory leaders on Sunday to discuss the co-payment proposal and their broader response to the federal government's $80 billion cuts to schools and hospitals over the next 10 years.
An AMA source confirmed the minister had held pre-budget talks about the consultant Terry Barnes' co-payment proposal, aired in a submission to the commission of audit, but said discussions about the government's intended model did not occur until after the budget.
Let's call this payment proposal what it is: anti-social.
This was especially apparent when the federal government announced a petrol exercise increase, ABC cuts, and changes on the GP co-payment proposal, all in the final weeks of the campaign.
The recent cabinet reshuffle was supposed to clean the slate for the new year, but the unrest caused by the backflips over the GP co-payment proposal only highlighted that the problems were still there.
Show that you are serious about returning to have a contract drawn up showing his payment proposal.
