Emma McBride (Dobell, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention) Share this | Hansard source

Be more like the member for Riverina, who welcomed me to his community and joined me at the new Wagga Wagga Medicare Mental Health Centre, offering free mental health care to people in his community.

It's the Albanese Labor government that is focused on delivering affordable health care for all Australians, saving Australians time and money. The Albanese Labor government has made the single largest investment in Medicare since its creation over 40 years ago—$8.5 billion to deliver more bulk-billed GP visits every year, hundreds of nursing scholarships and thousands more doctors. Australian patients and families are saving hundreds of dollars a year in out-of-pocket costs. For the first time, from 1 November last year, our government has expanded bulk-billing incentives to all Australians and created an additional new incentive payment for practices that bulk-bill every patient. Already over 3,300 GP practices are now fully bulk-billing. Over 1,200 of these were previously mixed billing practices, making Medicare even stronger, helping with cost-of-living pressures and making sure every Australian receives the best health care, which they deserve, and for free.

The Albanese Labor government's Medicare urgent care clinics are genuinely a game changer for Australians. Our government went to the last election promising to open 50 Medicare urgent care clinics. We've delivered 124 free Medicare urgent care clinics across the country, with more to open. As the assistant health minister, I've recently opened clinics in Gladstone in Central Queensland, Buderim on the Sunshine Coast and Austral in south-western Sydney. More than 2.5 million Australians have already been treated at one of Labor's existing urgent care clinics, which, as I said, provide bulk-billed care for urgent but non-life-threatening conditions seven days a week for extended hours with no appointment needed.

In my community on the Central Coast, the Lake Haven urgent care clinic has seen over 31,650 locals since it opened in late 2023. The recently opened Erina Medicare urgent care clinic, which I opened with Dr Reid, the member for Robertson, has already seen more than 1,700 presentations since opening just before Christmas. Medicare urgent care clinics are trusted alternatives to emergency departments for families across the country, with around one in four patients under the age of 15.

As a pharmacist, the sole pharmacist in this place, I'm pleased to update the House on how we are making cheaper medicines even cheaper, with a script now costing no more than $25 under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, a general prescription co-payment of $25, as well as freezing the cost of concession scripts at $7.70 through to the end of this decade, to 2030. This is another key cost-of-living measure delivered by the Albanese government. The last time scripts were $25, I was working in a community pharmacy on the Central Coast in my electorate back in 2004. As a pharmacist, I know just how much this matters to Australians. Had we not cut the cost of medicines more than once since coming to government, a single script would now cost more than $50, more than double what it is today. This is a real cost-of-living measure for Australians and it's making a big difference in communities right around the country.

In my electorate alone, locals have saved over $12.7 million on 1.7 million cheaper scripts. As a pharmacist, I know that I would see parents come from a visit to the doctor with prescriptions for their children and say, 'Can I share this antibiotic mixture?' or 'Can I get this prescription filled and can I delay this one?' This means that parents and families are now not being forced to make these decisions, that they can get the vital medicines that they and their families need.

In the time I have left, I'd like to talk about the difference that our Medicare mental health centres are making. I mentioned the Medicare mental health centre in Lismore earlier and the profound difference that's making in access to free care for local people in a community that has been hit by so many natural disasters and the long tail of those that affect communities. We've now established 53 Medicare mental health centres across the country. These centres offer free walk-in mental health support and care from a team of clinicians and peer workers. As part of our $1.1 billion mental health election package, we're growing the number of these free centres to 92 across the country. Recently, we've opened centres in Campbelltown in south-west Sydney, Mount Isa in north-west Queensland, Burnie on Tasmania's north-west coast and Bondi in response to the tragic terrorist attack. These centres mean people get the mental health care they need without the barriers. There's no cost, no appointment and no referral. It's free care when and where it's needed. That's supported by our new national early intervention service, Medicare Mental Health Check In, which we officially launched on 1 January this year and which, in a staged way, is providing more help for Australians for free. Digital mental health support is free for all Australians over the age of 16.

I am proud as a pharmacist, as a local MP and as an assistant health minister to be part of a government that has made the biggest investment in Medicare since it was established, a government that has brought mental health into the heart of Medicare and free services into the heart of communities, and a government that is providing cost-of-living relief to all Australians.

See this speech in context