Jelena Dokic reveals: He abused me

First published 1831 No. 53,541 $1.40 (inc GST)
Thursday May 7, 2009
OUT TODAY
Jelena Dokic reveals:
He abused me
Damir
confesses:
Yes, I beat
my daughter
Muhammad Ali: the lost photos » Lote Tuqiri: code breaker
As the Government battles a budget blow-out, shoppers decide it’s time to spend
EXCLUSIVE
Jessica Halloran
Crackdown
takes knife to
medical rorts
Phillip Coorey
Chief Political Correspondent
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MEDICAL specialists rorting the
Medicare Safety Net will be targeted in next week’s budget in a
measure designed to save about
$440 million over four years.
The Herald understands the
Government has baulked at
means testing the safety net and
instead will cap the payments it
makes to specialists who have
been identified in a new report
as exploiting the scheme by
charging excessive fees.
Obstetricians, vascular surgeons and providers of artificial
reproductive technology, such
as IVF specialists, will be at the
centre of the crackdown.
The savings will pale against
the expected deficit to be
unveiled next week.
The Finance Minister, Lindsay
Tanner, said yesterday a plan to
return the economy to surplus
had to be a paramount part of
the budget because protecting
the nation’s triple-A credit rating was critical.
He warned that annual interest
payments on borrowings, forecast in February to be between
$2 billion and $3 billion a year in
three to four years, would be even
higher because the estimated
revenue loss over the next four
years had blown out from
$115 billion to $200 billion.
The Medicare Safety Net was
introduced by the Howard
government in 2004 at an annual
cost of $166 million. Without
limits, its cost is forecast to blow
out to more than $1 billion
within five years.
The non-means-tested scheme
pays families and singles 80 per
cent of their out-of-pocket costs
once they have spent $1111.60 on
Medicare-related costs. The
threshold for concession card
holders and Family Tax A recipients is $555.70.
Defined as middle-class welfare, the scheme has escaped being means tested. Instead, the
BULK BILLING
IVF specialist
PAID BY
MEDICARE
PORTION PAID BY
MEDICARE SAFETY NET
Obstetrician
PAID BY
MEDICARE
PORTION PAID
BY MSN
$4.5m
$2.2m
$1.1m
$600,000
ANNUAL EARNINGS FOR TOP 10 PER CENT
OF SPECIALISTS IN 2008
FUEL TAX REVIEW
The Rudd Government has
looked at removing the
freeze on petrol tax to plug a
$200 billion hole in the
budget. The freeze has
already cost the budget
$12.6 billion and is expected
to be worth another $20 billion in forgone revenue over
the next four years.
NEWS, PAGE 9
THE DEFICIT ERA
Why do I get that permanent
feeling when I hear a
politician say temporary?
LETTERS, PAGE 12
EDITORIAL, PAGE 12
budget decision will be based on
the findings of an independent
study by the Centre for Health,
Economics Research and Evaluation, based at the University of
Technology, Sydney.
The study finds that specialists ramped up their fees to line
their own pockets, knowing the
taxpayer would foot the bill.
Between 2003 and 2008, the
average fee for a full cycle of artificial reproduction treatment
rose almost 300 per cent from
$294 to $1148. The average
obstetric fee rose 40 per cent
from $1238 to $1732.
EXCLUSIVE
SPIES SPEAK OUT ON LIU
The defence officials responsible for a covert
inquiry into the relationship between the
Defence Minister, Joel Fitzgibbon, and
businesswoman Helen Liu believe she has had
links with China’s military intelligence agency.
The officials, who are the target of two highpowered inquiries, claim to have raised
concerns about a potential security risk within
the Defence Department but these concerns
were simply dismissed.
NEWS, PAGE 2
‘‘We believe that providers
know, if they bill these items,
their patients are likely to qualify for [safety net] benefits.
Under these circumstances,
providers feel fewer competitive constraints on their fees,’’
the report says.
It found the top 10 per cent of
assisted reproductive technology specialists were paid
$4.5 million each by Medicare in
2008. Of this, $2.2 million came
through the safety net.
Under the measures in the
budget, safety net benefits for
services identified by the report
as attracting excessive fees will
be capped.
Of the almost $440 million to
be saved, less than $300 million
will be used to tackle the deficit.
The Government will use
$155 million to increase the
standard Medicare fee paid to
obstetricians and reproductive
specialists.
One source said this churning
back of savings was designed to
reward doctors who were not
charging excessive fees and to
try to encourage obstetricians to
practise in under-serviced areas.
As the Government and the
Opposition continued to spar
over the level of debt and deficit
being accrued, the Opposition
Leader, Malcolm Turnbull, said
that if elected, he would return
the economy to surplus faster
than Labor, which will forecast
deficits until at least 2015-16.
Another budget measure will
be to fund a $30 weekly pension
increase by halving the superannuation tax breaks for the
nation’s highest earners, saving
$2.7 billion over four years.
Meanwhile, the Australian
Medical Association said it
would resist government plans
to toughen laws for the audit of
doctors suspected of rorting
Medicare.
Measures could involve
Medicare inspectors forcing
doctors to disclose medical
records.
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DAMIR DOKIC has admitted
hitting his daughter Jelena
and defended his aggression,
saying it was ‘‘for her sake’’.
‘‘If I was ever a little bit
more aggressive towards
Jelena, it was for her sake,’’
Damir Dokic told the Serbian
newspaper Vecernje Novosti.
In today’s Sport & Style
magazine the tennis player
speaks exclusively and in
detail about the trauma her
father caused and how she
fled her family home in October 2002.
‘‘When I was young I was
beaten by my parents,’’ Mr
Dokic says, ‘‘and I am now
thankful to them for that
because that helped me to
become the right person.
‘‘Anyway, is there any
parent who didn’t do that at
least once or twice, of course
– for the sake of their children
and their future?
‘‘When she was with me,
she was on the right track.
‘It was for
her sake.’
Sales spike ... Rojda Guzel considers a pair of Jimmy Choo stilettos. Younger women are leading a surge in retail spending. Photo: Dallas Kilponen
Showing recession a clean pair of heels
Jacob Saulwick
and Jamie Freed
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REPORTS of the death of the
Australian shopper have been
exaggerated.
Even as the pall of recession
hangs over the economy, there
are enough tentative signs of encouragement – a rising sharemarket, a boost to sales – to suggest
the ferocity of the contraction
may yet be contained.
Retail sales figures jumped
2.2 per cent in March, the Bureau of Statistics said yesterday.
The increase was four times
that expected by economists,
and was the latest in a series of
indicators suggesting lower
interest rates and government
hand-outs have started to bite.
The March retail figures captured early cash payments from
the Government’s $42 billion
stimulus package, and economists and retailers expect the positive numbers to continue through
April and May.
Department stores were the big
winners, increasing sales more
CONSUMER PICKLE INDEX
The humble pickle is leaping off the
supermarket shelves – sales are up
28 per cent, a survey shows. As the
economic downturn bites, the consumer
trend is for less eating out and more
dinner parties. Everything from canned
vegetables and rice to fresh produce and
bakery items are the top-selling items at
MEDIA & MARKETING, PAGE 26
supermarkets.
than 13 per cent, after falling by
more than 9 per cent in February.
‘‘We’ve seen a fantastic increase in our cosmetics business,’’ the chief executive of
David Jones, Mark McInnes, told
the Herald. ‘‘There is only so long
you can stop buying things you
need. Cosmetics for women are
like an everyday staple item.’’
David Jones has also reported
strong sales of youth-oriented
clothing, with brands such as
Industrie and sass & bide among
the better performers.
‘‘The customers less affected
by the economic downturn are
the customers with no mortgages
and no share portfolio just earning a living,’’ Mr McInnes said.
Myer has reported strong
sales of cosmetics and
womenswear, while Target’s
managing director, Launa
Inman, said childrenswear and
electrical goods were top sellers.
But Rojda Guzel, a 19-year-old
student who was looking for
shoes at David Jones’s Elizabeth
Street store yesterday, was being
cautious. She said that while she
loves shopping, she was worried
about job security and was
spending less on luxury goods.
She was debating whether to
buy a pair of purple Jimmy Choo
stilettos, reduced from $1350 to
$675. ‘‘In normal times I’d definitely be purchasing these shoes,
but now I have to think twice,’’
she said.
Clothing and soft goods
retailers recorded a 6 per cent
increase, though other sectors
were less buoyant. Sales of
household goods were up just
over 1 per cent, as was turnover
at cafes and restaurants.
Jobs figures to be released
today are, however, likely to cap
any premature declarations
that the worst of the downturn
has passed.
‘‘These numbers demonstrate
the Government’s efforts to support jobs in our economy are
working, and Mr Turnbull is plain
wrong to oppose them,’’ the
Treasurer, Wayne Swan, said.
For his part, the Opposition
Leader, Malcolm Turnbull, reiterated his view that cash payments would be better spent on
infrastructure.
with Thomas Graham
OPINION
DAVID
MARR
FOR A long time, Mick Keelty
was good at making friends. But
when they fell away he was left
puzzled and turning to his critics
for explanation, perhaps even
absolution.
Not that he was apologising.
Not a bit. His private message
was: trust the mission and
GOLDEN BOY WHO LOST HIS LUSTRE
Keelty had been the Government’s golden
boy. His decisive and cool-headed
leadership during the Bali bombing made
him a national celebrity, an image the AFP
did little to disabuse, declaring that he could
be seen as Australia’s fifth most powerful
NEWS, PAGE 8
government official.
Mick Keelty ... quits.
Labor was not going to purge the
public service as Howard had on
taking power. Keelty was safe
enough for a while.
His only implacable enemy in
the new government was John
Faulkner. Perhaps last night the
teetotal Special Minister of State
was drinking a long glass of
water to celebrate the fall of the
commissioner who refused to
answer questions on the
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LIVERPOOL fine, mostly sunny 9°-23°
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possible role of the AFP in
sinking people-smuggling
boats.
Keelty was never the brightest
crayon in the box but he had a
shrewd strategic brain. He could
sense the next big thing and how
to position the AFP on the side of
change. He was liked. Within his
world he was seen as an honest
broker. But talented officers
working close to him had a habit
of disappearing. He was said not
to tolerate contradiction.
The dazzling policework that
identified the Bali bombers
Continued Page 8
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SYDNEY CITY fine, mostly sunny 13°-23°
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Courtier cop with a knack for making friends
forgive the mistakes. He was a
courtier cop. His talent for
making friends took him swiftly
up the ladder; won him the top
job; took the Australian Federal
Police into Indonesia and then
deep into a troubled region; kept
John Howard on side; and
consolidated his hold as Labor
took office.
Men who are now ministers
mock the way he courted them
in opposition: Keelty turning up
in their offices to tell them,
though never in so many words,
that he was a Labor man at heart.
The effort was unnecessary.
When she was 19, she earned
$6 million to $7 million, was
four on the WTA list and
drank tea with the Australian
prime minister.’’
But Mr Dokic was upset at
the extent of his daughter’s
revelations. He told the
Serbian newspaper Blic he
would ‘‘fire a rocket’’ on the
car of the Australian ambassador to Serbia if she did not
retract them.
‘‘I have a full house of
weapons and I have a licence
to have them,’’ he told Blic. ‘‘I
don’t have rockets yet but it is
the smallest problem to find
them. I am expecting that
after this comment, Serbian
police will come to my house
to arrest me. But that will just
increase the danger to the
ambassador.
‘‘The article in the Australian media is a continuation
of an attack on me with a clear
idea to kill me, as my blood
sugar level rose dramatically
after I saw the testimony of
Jelena. There is no child that
was not beaten by parents –
the same with Jelena.’’
After more than 10 years of
speculation in tennis circles
and the bruises seen by
coaches and competitors,
Dokic says the trauma has
built her resolve on the court.
‘‘I’ve been through a lot
worse than anybody on the
tour. I can say that with confidence,’’ she said. ‘‘When you
go through stuff like that, playing a tennis match is a pretty
easy thing to do.’’
PENRITH fine, mostly sunny 10°-23°
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