Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Energy) Share this | Hansard source

I want to update the House on some very positive news for my community in relation to health services and provision. Firstly, there are the Albanese government's highly successful urgent care clinics. There are people in my community who have benefited very much from these urgent care clinics. In particular, the Westmead clinic, which services Greystanes, has seen 21,452 people through its doors. The Rooty Hill clinic, which services the parts of my electorate in the Blacktown City Council area, has serviced 20,085 patients. The Fairfield urgent care clinic, which is in my electorate, has so far serviced 10,936 Fairfield locals who were in need of care which was urgent but not an emergency. This has been a remarkable addition to our local service provision, and I'm very proud of it. I want to thank the Minister for Health and Ageing, who was here with us just a moment ago, for these really big improvements to services in my community which were so needed.

Of course, urgent care clinics aren't for everyone all the time. I'm very pleased we've expanded the Medicare bulk-billing clinics as well through our bulk-billing incentive. We've seen a further eight clinics become 100 per cent bulk-billing, which has taken our number to over 70 clinics that provide bulk-billing only, which gives us the sixth-highest rate of bulk-billing in Australia. Again, that's very much needed in my community, and I very much welcome it. Again, that's good policy that's improving lives in my community.

In relation to cheaper medicines, I'm pleased to report that McMahon locals, since our cheaper medicines policy came in, have received $17.5 million in benefit. That's money that's better in their pockets than in anyone else's. That is a very good thing.

There are two other developments. Last Friday was a busy day. I was very pleased to attend the Blacktown mental health clinic. I visited it with the Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care. The Premier came along to check it out as well, which I very much welcomed, together with the state Minister for Mental Health. Since that clinic opened, it has provided 1,000 instances of care. One of the big changes in my lifetime and I'm sure yours too, Madam Deputy Speaker Aldred, is that we can now talk about mental health. When I was a kid, it was taboo. You didn't talk about it. Now, when people are doing it tough, it is something to talk about. More importantly, you can get support. The Blacktown mental health clinic is nine to five, but you can also make an appointment after hours.

This is the final one. This is really a lovely piece of good news. Bringing a little ray of sunshine into the world, a little baby, should be the best time of your life. But, for too many Australians, it isn't. One in five Australian women and one in 10 Australian men suffers perinatal depression at some point. Now there's a specific service, the Gidget House perinatal depression service, which will now be provided at Fairfield Hospital. It opened yesterday. We attended the opening ceremony on Friday. For people—young parents, new parents—doing it tough who need help, there's no shame. There's now support at the Gidget Foundation's Fairfield Perinatal Mental Health Centre.

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