Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

How dare you! The Albanese Labor government is strengthening Medicare with more doctors, more urgent care clinics and even cheaper medicines—all assisting families with the cost of living and giving them better health care. I was proud to deliver on a number of health commitments for Darwin and Palmerston in my electorate in the Northern Territory during the election. The Albanese government committed to an urgent care clinic for Darwin, and EOIs will open this month.

We'll invest up to $60 million through the Aged Care Capital Assistance Program to support the construction of a new residential-care home in Palmerston, delivering no less than 120 new residential-care beds. Darwin has the lowest number of aged-care beds in the country, so this funding is really important to directly address critical supply shortages in residential aged care.

This of course builds on the $560 million, which is a 30 per cent increase, to be delivered in hospital funding for the Northern Territory in the next year. It is the largest increase of any jurisdiction, and we absolutely need it. Add to this the fact that we've upgraded our Darwin headspace, which is really important to look after our young people with complex needs. We've also given CareFlight $10 million for a new medical evacuation helicopter, which is very important too.

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