GP super clinics slow to eventuate CONSTRUCTION has not begun on seven of the 11 GP super clinics promised in NSW, two-and-a-half years after they were used to lure votes in the 2010 election. Most of the clinics that were meant to bulk bill patients, provide after hours care and include specialist services won't be open in time for the September election. Two of the clinics are in Western Sydney, where marginal seats are crucial to the Labor government. The Blacktown GP super clinic and another in Liverpool are still waiting for local government approvals before construction commences. Construction starts are hoped for at the Bawrunga clinic in Coffs Harbour, the Snowy River clinic in Thredbo, the Lismore GP Super Clinic and Port Macquarie GP super clinic early this year . The Illawarra Medicare clinic slated for Nowra is also still waiting for government approvals. Four clinics promised for NSW in 2010 are under contruction, but Broken Hill and Raymond Terrace won't open until late this year or early next year. A clinic in Gosford and another in Tweed Heads are hoped to open in mid 2013. The government has performed better on its 2007 election promises. All eight GP super clinics clinics promised to NSW in the 2007 election had opened by the end of last year. The government has defended the delays and says it needed to find land for most super clinics before they can be built. "This differs to other government construction projects, where the land is already identified and usually zoned for the intended use," a spokesman for Health Minster Tanya Plibersek said. All up, NSW was promised 20 of Labor's 64 GP super clinics over two elections. Halfway into the five year program, only nine of those clinics are open. Opposition health spokesman Andrew Southcott said it defied belief that after two and a half years Labor had made almost no progress on the super clinics promised in 2010. " When the ALP promised these clinics, most families would have expected more after a full term of government than just a vacant block of land," he said. In New South Wales they promised 11 GP Super Clinics in key seats. There are none open today and only two which will be open by the end of the year," he said. The Australian Medical Association has opposed the clinics on the grounds many are opening only a short distance from existing surgeries. It says the money would have been better spent delivering grants to existing doctors to upgrade their clinics.