Mark Butler (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Hansard source

No wonder the average gap fee to see a GP now, for the first time in Medicare's history, is more than the Medicare rebate itself, and no wonder junior doctors are walking away from general practice in droves. Just as every new Labor government had to do, we will clean up this mess because there is no higher priority for Labor than a strong Medicare system.

That's why we're already working with state governments to deliver our 50 urgent care clinics, which will make it easier to see a doctor and take pressure off our hospitals. Tomorrow I will chair the first meeting of the Strengthening Medicare Taskforce to advise the government on our $750 million commitment to deliver on the primary care sector's plan for better primary care delivered to patients when and where they need it. We'll slash the price of medicine for millions of general patients. We're expanding the Aboriginal health workforce, as well as services for dialysis and rheumatic heart disease. We'll introduce world-best screening programs for our precious newborn babies, and we'll fund upgrades to the thousands of general practices that worked so hard to keep us safe over the last 2½ years. After nine long years of neglect and cuts, there is much to do to strengthen and protect our Medicare system, and finally Australia has a government with a plan to do it.

See this speech in context