Melissa Price (Durack, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Science) Share this | Hansard source

Do you know of any service you have to pay for twice? Well, in towns across Durack that's exactly what is happening when it's time to see a doctor. Councils are being forced to spend millions of ratepayer dollars just to get and keep a GP in their town, meaning locals are paying once through their rates and again when they visit the doctor.

Now, this does not happen in the city. The Prime Minister has repeated that, under Labor, all you need is a Medicare card. In regional WA that is simply not true. Bulk-billing is down, out-of-pocket costs are up, and towns like Northampton, in my electorate, now don't even have their own GP. How can Medicare work when there's no-one to hand your card to?

A Western Australian Local Government Association report dated August 2024 lays it bare: 92 per cent of council spending to support general practice comes from towns with fewer than 5,000 people. In the WA Wheatbelt alone, local governments are spending over $4 million a year just to keep the doctors in town. The so-called healthcare system in regional WA is in crisis. I've written to the Minister for Health and Ageing, Mark Butler, urging him to act, because health care is a state and Commonwealth responsibility; it is not our local governments' responsibility. Basic care should not depend on your postcode. It's time for governments to step up and stop relying upon rural and regional ratepayers to fill the gap. (Time expired)

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