Tom Venning (Grey, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The coalition is deeply concerned about the Albanese Labor government's disingenuous rhetoric on Medicare and the state of bulk-billing in Australia today. Before the last election the Prime Minister promised Australians that all they would need to see a doctor was their Medicare card, not a credit card. His words were emphatic: 'One card covers it all—not your credit card but your Medicare card.' He repeated that promise at least 71 times. But the reality Australians now face is very different. Under Labor, bulk-billing has collapsed. GP bulk-billing has fallen from 88 per cent under the coalition to 77 per cent today. That means 40 million fewer bulk-billed GP visits in the past year alone. Those who can still find a GP are paying record amounts out of their pockets—75 per cent more in out-of-pocket costs than before Labor came to office. The government's own national accounts show that more Australians than ever are having to use their credit card alongside their Medicare card. They are being charged the highest out-of-pocket costs on record. The result is heartbreaking. More than 1.5 million Australians last year avoided going to the doctor because they simply could not afford it. That is the sad reality of our healthcare system under Labor, a reality that no photo opportunity or stunt with a Medicare card can hide.

It is worth reflecting on how we got here. For years general practice has been under pressure. Doctors tell me the traditional model, where shorter consultations helped subsidise longer, more complex ones, has broken down. At the same time rebates have fallen far behind the actual cost of providing care. In fact, GPs receive just $42 from Medicare for an extended consultation. Compare that to the $246 the government pays for an urgent care clinic visit, $200 for a nurse led clinic visit and $692 for a patient presenting to an emergency department without admission. The incentives are skewed away from general practice, the very front line of our healthcare system. This has devastating consequences in our regions.

Only recently, in my electorate, the Goyder's Line Medical clinic in Peterborough closed its doors. This is a community of 1,200 people. It is now gone. People in Peterborough, like those in so many regional towns, are left with diminishing access to primary care. The only option in many cases is to wait until a condition worsens and head to an already overstretched regional hospital. That is not strengthening Medicare. That is weakening it. Yet the Prime Minister continues to tell Australians that it is free to see a GP. His health minister now even admits that he never said there would be 100 per cent bulk-billing. That is simply not true. The Prime Minister's own words are on the record. This is not just a broken promise; it's a $2 billion lie. Because, in the past year alone, Australians have paid more than $2 billion in out-of-pocket costs to see their GP. That's $2 billion that the Prime Minister told them they would never have to pay. By contrast, the coalition has a strong record on Medicare. Every year we were in office we increased funding, from $18.6 billion under the former Labor government to more than $30 billion by 2021-22. When we left office, bulk-billing was at a record high of 88 per cent, and in our last year 167 million free GP services were delivered—61 million more than the previous Labor government.

Let's not forget about mental health. Labor has cut Medicare subsidised sessions in half, stripping vital support from 372,000 vulnerable Australians, ignoring the advice of experts and even their own review. The result is that access to Medicare mental health services has fallen to the lowest levels in more than a decade, precisely when demand is at record highs. In fact, the situation in my electorate is so dire that you would find better access to mental health support in Mongolia than you would in regional South Australia. That is the reality under this Labor government. Australians deserve better: they deserve honesty, they deserve a government that understands the struggles to afford basic health care, and they deserve access to a GP, whether they live in Sydney or in Peterborough. While Labor is misleading Australians, the coalition will continue to fight to make sure families, especially in the regions, have affordable, timely access to doctors, medicines and mental health support, because that is what Medicare should mean.

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