Trish Cook (Bullwinkel, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Today I rise to share some fantastic news for the people of Bullwinkel, particularly in those suburbs in the Perth Hills and surrounding communities. At the end of this month we will officially open the doors to the new Mundaring Medicare Urgent Care Clinic. This is a project that I've championed since my first day as a candidate, and seeing it come to fruition is a proud moment for us all and my community. Located at the Mundaring GP Super Clinic on Mundaring Weir Road, this facility is going to be a game changer. For too long families have had to drive right down the hill to the Midland Hospital for non-threatening emergencies, such as stitches or X-rays, and wait for hours at the emergency department. Having this in Mundaring will really suit their needs. It will be open later this month and it will be fully bulk-billed—all you need is your Medicare card—with no out-of-pocket costs, no gap fees, extended hours open seven days a week, including evenings, and walk-in access. No appointment or referral will be necessary for those urgent but non-life-threatening moments. Whether it's a child with a high fever on a Saturday night or a do-it-yourself injury on a Sunday afternoon, help will be right there in Mundaring with X-ray facilities.

This isn't just a win for Mundaring. It's all part of the Albanese Labor government's historic mission to repair the damage done to Medicare over the last decade. New national figures released this week show that our investment is working. The national non-referred attendance rate, the bulk-billing rate, is now 81 per cent. Even more significantly, because of our strategic placement of services and support for local GPS, 96 per cent of the Australian population now lives within a 20-minute drive of a registered Medicare bulk-billing practice. In a country as vast as ours, that is a monumental achievement for equity and access to health care. But there is more to do.

In Bullwinkel, we're seeing the local impact of these reforms right now. Since our government announced the record investment into Medicare, we have had four additional local practices in our electorate step up and become bulk-billing practices. There are four more places where residents can walk in and know that their health and not their bank balance is the priority.

Health care should never be a luxury. It is a fundamental right, and, by opening the Mundaring Medicare urgent care clinic and driving up bulk-billing rates, we're ensuring that when somebody in Bullwinkel is sick or injured, they can get the care that they need when they need it right where they live. I look forward to the opening of the Mundaring urgent care clinic at the end of the month and to continuing to strengthen Medicare for every resident.

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