Kara Cook (Bonner, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Guess what's back again? Bulk-billing is back. Please tell your friends! In Bonner we now have 11 fully bulk-billed GP clinics and counting: Archer Medical Centre; Doctors on Manly Road; Garden City Family Doctors; Good Health medical centres in Garden City, Mt Gravatt and Carindale; Mansfield Family Practice; Mt Gravatt Family Practice; Realcare Medical Centre; Tingalpa Family Health Care Centre; and Yulu-Burri-Ba. This is all thanks to the Albanese Labor government's record investment in Medicare. It's been 40 years since its inception, and we are tripling the bulk-billing incentive. This will mean Australians can see a GP for free and access care when they need it most.

This is just the beginning. Over the next four years, we will see around 4,800 GP clinics converted to fully-fledged bulk-billing practices. Nationally, over 1,000 have already signed up. In Queensland we have 1,430 GP practices, and over the weekend we saw a doubling of fully bulk-billed practices. That's 408 across the Sunshine State. This means more bulk-billing doctors for more communities, easing pressure on families. When they need to see a doctor, all they're going to need is their Medicare card, not their credit card. As a member of this Labor government, I am committed to delivering real cost-of-living relief for my constituents in Bonner and to building a fairer and healthier Australia. From the mum from Mansfield to the student from Belmont and the pensioner from Wynnum Manly, more constituents in my electorate of Bonner will be able to see a GP for free.

But more good news is on the way. We have opened 90 Medicare urgent care clinics across the country, and 47 more are on the way, including in my electorate. The Carindale Medicare urgent care clinic will be opened in the coming months. The expressions of interest have now closed, and I cannot wait to cut the ribbon on that clinic and open it up to members of my community. This will be the first Medicare urgent care clinic in Bonner. Hundreds of locals signed my petition calling for an urgent care clinic in our electorate, and I am so proud to see that Labor has heard them and will see this delivered in the coming months. Labor is delivering tangible, substantial cost-of-living relief, and that will benefit millions of Australians, not just those in my community in Bonner.

We are also investing in women's health at a record rate. On the weekend we listed even more new contraceptive options on the PBS, and it's great to see menopausal hormone therapies being added to the PBS as well. We are also delivering expanded endometriosis clinics to help deliver earlier diagnosis and treatment—something that will change the lives of women who for years have often had their pain dismissed. The Albanese Labor government is providing Australian women with more choices at lower costs. We know that women have faced a significant range of barriers to accessing health care, often at significant cost, just by virtue of being a woman.

Australia has had one of the lowest rates of long-acting reversible contraceptive use in the developed world. Medicare rebates for insertion of IUDs and birth-control implants will increase by up to 150 per cent, with around 300,000 women each year expected to save up to $400 in out-of-pocket costs under the changes that are being made. The Albanese Labor government is also funding free training for health practitioners in the insertion and removal of IUDs to boost the number of qualified practitioners and improve access to services. In addition a 40 per cent bulk-billing incentive will be introduced incentivising health professionals to provide long-acting contraceptive services and support women to have greater contraceptive choice. These are all part of Labor's landmark women's health package, investing almost $800 million to deliver improved health care for women and girls.

This is what a Labor government does. We strengthen Medicare, we deliver cost-of-living relief and we keep working to build a fairer and healthier future for all Australians.

See this speech in context