Kristy McBain (Eden-Monaro, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Regional Development, Local Government and Territories) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Whitlam for her question and for the work that she does supporting people in her community for their health and wellbeing. Her electorate is now home to one of 90 Medicare urgent care clinics across the country, and the Dapto urgent care clinic has now had over 16,000 fully bulk-billed presentations. The Albanese Labor government is building Australia's future by investing in our regions.

We understand that regional development isn't just about investing in roads and bridges, although they are incredibly important; it's also about cheaper medicine, which, thanks to the Labor government, will come down to $25 on 1 January 2026. The last time they were this cheap was in 2004. In 2004, I was still at university and working in pharmacy. The No. 1 song on the Billboard charts was Usher's song 'Yeah!', and we'll take that as an agreement of this policy, and the word of the year was 'blog'. This year's word of the year is 'delulu', and those opposite are still delulu. This is a huge deal for people in regional Australia, because it will help improve lives. We've frozen the cost of concession card holder medicine at $7.70 for the rest of the decade. This is all about strengthening Medicare.

As I said, we've established 90 Medicare urgent care clinics across the country—31 in regional Australia—in Queanbeyan, in Warrnambool, in Broome, Cairns, Coffs Harbour, Devonport and in Dapto. In addition to that, we're prioritising mental health in our regions, opening more Medicare mental health centres. We're improving bulk-billing rates across regional Australia and we're investing in infrastructure for our regional communities. Whether it's a swimming pool or a skate park, we are committed to delivering better sports and health facilities for regional Australia.

In the last couple of weeks, we've delivered a range of projects, including the Kwinana aquatics centre on the Sunshine Coast and a new skate and play precinct in Port Fairy. We've committed $1 million and reopened the Bermagui indoor sports centre, thanks to an investment from the bushfire local economic recovery fund, and, finally, the Merimbula skate park is set to open soon, helping local kids keep active.

The Albanese Labor government has also announced $14 million for the Hunter Park youth and recreational precinct in Gilgandra—a major investment through our Regional Precincts and Partnerships Program in sporting facilities that keep kids active and healthy. I know the Gilgandra mayor, Doug Batten, was ecstatic at the funding announcement, because he said: 'We're very grateful. This project will change lives in Gilgandra.' On this side of the House, we're investing in better health care and facilities in our regions because we know it changes lives. Only the Albanese Labor government is standing up for regional Australia, delivering better health care, strengthening Medicare and helping our communities stay active.

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