Tania Lawrence (Hasluck, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Everyone is getting a tax cut in Hasluck, but they won't have to spend it on access to urgent medical care. That's because the Albanese Labor government has fulfilled its pre-election commitment by opening 58 urgent care clinics across the country, including in Midland in my great electorate of Hasluck. Equitable access to a GP and health care is a core tenet of Labor values, and Medicare is one of the crowning achievements of past Labor governments. It should not matter what postcode you live in or how much money you have in your bank, all Australians deserve to have access to the same health care. In the month in which Medicare turns 40 years old, it is a timely reminder that it is the cornerstone of our health system, one that all Australians should be proud of and one that should never be taken for granted.

A decade of Liberal government meant we experienced a freeze on the Medicare Benefits Schedule, a freeze on the indexation of the Medicare rebate, a reduction in pathology and diagnostic imaging bulk-billing incentives, plus reviews into ways to strip back Medicare and even privatise parts of the system. In contrast, since coming to government in 2022, we have made the biggest investment ever in Medicare. Locals in my electorate are starting to see the difference the commitment to strengthening Medicare is having on their lives.

Bulk-billing has increased across every state and territory in Australia, with more than 180,000 additional trips to the GP being bulk-billed every month across the country, saving Australians millions. This includes more than 1,000 extra bulk-billed appointments in Hasluck over the last couple of months of 2023. That's more than a thousand people in my electorate presenting for medical care who may not have otherwise presented had our government not tripled the bulk-billing incentive and opened the Midland urgent care clinic at North Street Medical Centre. This points to the Midland urgent care clinic being a great success. This is why I will continue to fight for even more clinics in our community, in Ellenbrook and beyond.

Our commitment to health and easing the burden on household budgets extends beyond Medicare. We have implemented the largest cost cut to PBS prescription in the scheme's history. Reducing the maximum cost of a PBS prescription from $42.50 to $30 means Western Australians have saved $23 million across 2.1 million cheaper scripts. Locals in my electorate of Hasluck have shared in almost $1.9 million in savings over 170,000 scripts.

Let me leave you with a statistic that blew me away. Before 1984 and the introduction of Medicare, medical debt was the leading cause of bankruptcy. But, thanks to Labor and the introduction of Medicare, medical debts are no longer even measured. Let's keep it that way.