Carina Garland (Chisholm, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I really want to thank the member for Macquarie for putting this motion to the House. This is really important to this side of the House and important to me. On this side of the House, we believe that, no matter someone's postcode or income, they should have equitable access to free, quality care. Protecting and enhancing Medicare is one of the reasons that I put my hand up to run as a member of parliament. I feel so strongly about making sure Australia has a really strong healthcare system. Part of this is because I grew up in a family where my dad was a GP, my mum was a nurse and they ran their own medical practice. The importance of equitable access to health care is something that has been instilled in me from a very young age.

I'm really proud to be able to advance our healthcare system here as a member of the Albanese Labor government. Of course, Labor is the party of Medicare, which was first introduced through Prime Minister Gough Whitlam's government as Medibank; was then, unfortunately, abolished by the subsequent Liberal government; and was then reintroduced as Medicare by the Hawke government. We've got, on this side of the House, a very strong track record in actually establishing, protecting and enhancing public health, as opposed to those opposite, who abolish and undermine universal health care in this country.

Having a system like Medicare is a fundamental part of what a lot of us think of as the Australian way of life. This is a really great example of Australian exceptionalism. It has improved the overall health of the country, increased our life expectancy and eliminated medical related bankruptcies, which did happen with frequency in this country before Medibank and then Medicare were implemented. When we first came to government in 2022, bulk-billing was in freefall after an appalling decade of cuts and neglect, and it had never been harder or more expensive to find a doctor. That's not what I want for Australia or for our communities. It's not what anyone on this side of the House wants.

That's why strengthening Medicare was a key focus of our election platform and has been a consistent focus for our government. We're a government who follow through with our commitments. In our first term of government, we delivered more doctors, more bulk-billing and medicines cheaper than what had been delivered for some time, and we opened 87 Medicare urgent care clinics. I've got an urgent care clinic in my electorate in Chisholm that has already opened—in Mount Waverley—and we've also got one on the way in the Stonnington council area. We've also committed to opening another 50 urgent care clinics across the country. A total of 122 urgent care clinics are currently open.

The data shows us the benefits of these bulk-billed urgent care clinics, with over 14,000 people in my community receiving quality, timely care, which, importantly, takes pressure off emergency departments and allows people to be seen sooner for their needs. I'm really grateful to the medical professionals who work in the urgent care clinics for their compassion, care and dedication.

Our government has, of course, gone beyond funding just Medicare urgent care clinics to funding privately owned practices as well with our investment of $8.5 billion to deliver more bulk-billed GP visits each year and expanding bulk-billing incentives, creating an additional new incentive payment for practices that bulk bill every patient. This means that nine out of 10 visits to GPs will be bulk billed by 2030, boosting the number of fully bulk-billed practices to around 4,800 nationally, which is triple the current number of practices. I can see how this is taking hold in Chisholm. In my electorate, we now have 29 bulk-billing practices, which is an increase from the 11 that were previously mixed billing. I'm really proud that I can deliver something like that for my community, making sure that people get the care that they need when they need it.

This is a real game changer for people. It's real cost-of-living relief for families. Again, I thank all of the healthcare professionals who work in private practice for their dedication and care and for their commitment to people being able to access equitable health care. Of course, we've delivered cheaper medicines too. We're investing in mental health care. We know how important it is that Australians have governments that protect and expand our healthcare services in this country, and I'm really proud to speak to this motion.

See this speech in context