Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to talk about what Labor is doing to strengthen access to local health care. In recent months, I visited GP clinics across the electorate of Lalor to see firsthand what our bulk-billing reform means for our community. In raw numbers, of the 44 GP clinics across the electorate of Lalor, 31 are now bulk-billing every patient who walks through their door. On my journey to meet them, I met with doctors, practice managers and staff, and they all told me the same thing: patients are coming back. People who delayed care are now walking through the door again, and that is what this reform is all about. It's about making sure Australians see a doctor when they need to, not when they can afford to.

From Lancaster Medical Centre to Mandalay Family Clinic to Riverdale Healthplus and more, Labor's reforms to bulk-billing were welcomed. In fact, what I heard from a lot of GPs and practice managers was that they felt valued again by this government, and I can't imagine how good that feels after a decade of neglect from the former government. For the first time, enhanced bulk-billing incentives will be available for every Australian, with additional support for practices that bulk-bill all patients. This gives clinics certainty and allows them to plan, invest and grow, and, in fast-growing communities like Lalor, that matters.

You'd be amazed how many of the GPs operating in my community were overseas doctors or people who came here to train in medicine. They have put down roots and made our community their home. It is fabulous to see this, to meet them and to be in a position to thank them for their work. The reform reduces cost-of-living pressures for families, it obviously strengthens primary health care and it ensures that your postcode does not determine your access to health care. Only Labor strengthens Medicare when families need it most, and it was great to be out in the community to see that happening firsthand.

In those 31 bulk-billing clinics, now, all you really do need is your Medicare card to get your primary health. Doctors felt appreciated. It was also an honour for me to meet two young people, a son and a daughter of people who run clinics in my community, who had completed their medicine studies at the end of last year. It's absolutely fabulous—a second generation of doctors in my community. I also met another GP who has two sons currently studying medicine in Melbourne. It was fantastic. This adds to Gidget House opening in Point Cook and to the new endo and pelvic pain clinic that opened in Werribee this week at the Werribee Medical & Dental Centre.

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