Basem Abdo (Calwell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support the motion moved by the member for Lalor and I thank her for her commitment to her community and to protecting and strengthening Medicare, one of the proudest achievements in our national story. When Labor came to government in 2022 it had never been harder or more expensive to find a doctor. Bulk-billing was in freefall. After nearly a decade of coalition cuts and neglect, the very foundation of our universal healthcare system was eroding.

That is the legacy of those opposite: a neglected health system that led to bad health outcomes, longer wait times and Australians paying more out of pocket for care that should have been free. Under the coalition, Medicare rebates were frozen for six years, stripping billions from primary care and making it harder for doctors to bulk-bill. The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners estimates that general practice lost around $3.8 billion due to that freeze. And who was at the helm of that policy? The current Leader of the Opposition, then the health minister, who oversaw the continuation of that freeze and supported a GP co-payment, a policy that would have forced Australians to pay every time they saw a doctor, set in stone. In 2014-15 the coalition government proposed a $7 co-payment for GP visits and a $5 cut to that rebate, defended until public outrage forced its withdrawal. That's the Liberal record on health: freezes, fees and funding cuts. It left GP clinics struggling, bulk-billing collapsing, and patients paying the price, in money and in health.

Labor is rebuilding Medicare from the ground up. The Albanese Labor government is proud to be delivering the single-largest investment in Medicare history: $8.5 billion to deliver 18 million additional bulk-billed GP visits every year across the country; hundreds of new nursing scholarships; and thousands more doctors through the largest GP training program in our history. In 2023 we tripled the bulk-billing incentive and delivered the largest investment in bulk-billing in Australia's history. More than nine in 10 visits for concession cardholders and children under 16 are now bulk-billed, with 6.5 million extra bulk-billed visits in the last year alone.

From 1 November, Labor is expanding bulk-billing incentives to every Australian—by the end of this week—and creating a new bulk-billing incentive program, giving practices that bulk-bill every patient an additional 12.5 per cent incentive payment. This reform means that nine out of 10 GP visits will be bulk-billed by 2030, and around 4,800 clinics will be fully bulk-billed—triple the number from when Labor came to office. Importantly, this isn't just good for patients but also good for doctors. A metro GP who bulk-bills every visit will earn $5,300 more than a mixed billing GP delivering the same number of services, and in rural areas that figure rises to nearly $24,000.

We see the difference every day in Calwell. As the member for Lalor mentioned, just a few weeks ago Craigieburn Medical and Dental Centre, in my electorate, announced it will move to 100 per cent bulk-billing for medical visits. That's a big win for our community. It means families don't have to worry about gap payments or putting off care because of cost. We're backing that up with 90 Medicare urgent care clinics already open nationwide, exceeding our initial promise of 50, with another 47 on the way this financial year. I'm proud to have announced a full Medicare mental health centre in my community to roll out more places that locals can go for free public mental health care backed by Medicare. This is in stark contrast to their plan to drive up gap fees and make waitlists longer. We've also cut the cost of medicines, reducing the PBS co-payment to $25 from January 2026 and saving Australians over $200 million a year on prescriptions.

This is what a government that believes in Medicare looks like. Where the Liberals froze, we funded. Where they cut, we rebuilt. Where they put up barriers, we are breaking them down. That is because Medicare in our community keeps kids healthy, older Australians independent and families secure in the knowledge that their government has their back. That is the promise of Medicare, that is the Labor difference and that is why only a Labor government will always protect and strengthen Medicare.

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