Jess Teesdale (Bass, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

In Bass, we understand the meaning of doing more with less, particularly when it comes to health. In some of our more regional communities, getting to a doctor can take hours. Bulk-billing GPs are a threatened species, and for many families the rising cost of medicines means making impossible choices. Bass is one of the most underserved electorates in the country when it comes to access to healthcare professionals. I've heard these stories firsthand: a grandmother on a surgery waitlist for years, a child missing out on early intervention or a young person waiting for diagnosis and yet falling through the cracks. But Labor is stepping up.

In this year's budget, the Albanese government has delivered the biggest investment in Medicare ever seen in Bass. This includes cheaper medicines, because nobody should be splitting tablets in half to stretch out a script; 1800MEDICARE, a national triage line to provide support 24/7; and an endometriosis and pelvic pain clinic that is already changing lives, where people can feel heard and understood and get the treatment that they need.

For urgent but non-emergency care, Launceston's Medicare urgent care clinic continues to be a lifeline for our community. Our clinic is one of the busiest in the country and perhaps the only one that's had to treat multiple Tasmanian devil bites in its time. The numbers don't lie. In the first half of this year, the Launceston Medicare urgent care clinic saw an average of 54 patients per day. Since its expanded opening hours on 1 July, the clinic sees 73 patients on average every day. On its busiest day this month, 84 patients were seen by a doctor at the Medicare urgent care clinic. That's 84 Tasmanians, 84 of my constituents, who did haven't to wait at the emergency department or try to get an after-hours GP appointment. They could see a doctor when and where they needed to, for free. In fact, just last week the clinic saw as many patients in a single day as our already overstretched local hospital emergency department did in a 24-hour period. I shudder to think what people would have done if they hadn't had access to this Medicare urgent care clinic.

Labor also knows that to improve health outcomes for people we also need to invest in training and retaining more doctors and building our future workforce in the regions. I was proud to stand alongside the minister for health to announce funding to deliver end-to-end medical training at the University of Tasmania. This means that, for the first time ever, medical students can complete their entire medical degree in Launceston. For a regional community, that is huge. Quite frankly, when I was growing up, that was unheard of.

More medical students graduating in Launceston will mean more doctors living and working in Bass. When you train in a regional area, the data tells us that you are more likely to stay in that area. I think of Peta, a local medical student who did her placement with the exceptional Dr Reddy's practice in Beaconsfield. That experience helped her to solidify her future goals. She now wants to be a regional GP because she saw firsthand how powerful that role is within a community. We also know that fully bulk-billing clinics like Dr Reddy's are worth their weight in gold. He has won the Tasmanian award for best clinic and best practice in Tasmania. We are so proud to have him and his work. Thank you very much, Dr Reddy.

It is integral that more Tasmanians are able to train closer to home so that more Tasmanians can deliver the health care needed in our community. This is the model that works. This is the commitment that Bass deserves, because every person, no matter their postcode, should be able to access quality, affordable care when and where they need it.

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