Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Today, 11 February, is a great day, because I am able to confirm for the people of Solomon, my electorate—Darwin and Palmerston—that due to the actions of this Albanese Labor government there are now 23 bulk-billing Medicare practices across Darwin and Palmerston. Fifteen of them are newly bulk-billing, and eight have shifted from mixed billing to fully bulk-billing. I have worked to continually improve health in my electorate in the far north—before politics, beyond Darwin, with the remote area health corps that I established. Before that, I worked in Timor-Leste to improve the health of babies and mothers in particular.

I'll never forget today's date, 11 February, back in 2008 in Timor-Leste. I was working as a civilian adviser to the President of Timor-Leste, Jose Ramos-Horta. I received a phone call that the president had been shot while returning from his morning walk. Luckily, and thanks to his resilience and to expert medical care—in Dili, from the ADF personnel and from Aspen Medical, and then at the Royal Darwin Hospital—Jose Ramos-Horta lived. So you can imagine my delight in returning to Dili recently with the Prime Minister to meet with Jose Ramos-Horta again, in his capacity as the president, and also to spend time with Xanana Gusmao— (Time expired)

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