Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I want to thank the member for Fowler for raising this important discussion today. I think it's a critical discussion. I also want to thank the minister who's sitting at the table, the Minister for Health and Ageing, for the work that he's done in this space since we took office, because I can say that, with the election of the Albanese Labor government, the postcodes of 3030, 3029 and 3024, much like the postcodes the member for Fowler represents, now have a government committed to strengthening Medicare.

One of the first actions this government took in the health space was to reverse the cuts the Liberals and Nationals made to outer-suburb communities' priority access. The cuts the Liberals made meant local clinics in my community were reporting they couldn't take on any new patients, there was a loss of 30 per cent of effective full-time doctors and wait times were out to five days. This put enormous pressure on our local medical professionals, and in some cases local doctors, nurses and staff were in tears. This government got to work, and the DPA was restored to the City of Wyndham. We have since seen the number of doctors increase, along with our capacity to be part of the training of doctors—of overseas doctors in particular—and out-of-hours or longer-hour surgeries have seen people flocking back to GPs.

We've also home to one of the first of Labor's 126 Medicare urgent care clinics. Before the last election, 20,000 people had already been through that urgent care clinic. Our urgent care clinics are taking pressure off our hospital emergency departments. The clinic was opened in July 2023, and it has provided urgent care for over 32,000 people now. I note that in the member for Fowler's electorate there is an urgent care clinic, and I'm sure the locals there welcome that as well.

Of course, we have to talk about the bulk-billing increases—the new arrangements. New data shows that Australians can now access over 3,400 Medicare bulk-billing practices across the country. Almost 1,300 of these practices previously bulk-billed. In Lalor, we now have 40 bulk-billing clinics. Eleven of these were previously charging patients an out-of-pocket fee before our record investment in bulk-billing, which came into effect on 1 November last year. And I want to use this opportunity to thank those GP clinics who have opened their doors and welcomed me for a visit. I encourage all members: reach out and contact the GP clinics in your electorates that are bulk-billing. Go and visit. I have been absolutely thrilled to meet the GPs operating in my area. Something I've shared with the minister before is the number of people in my community who have put down roots as doctors, and now I'm meeting their adult children who are just finishing med school. It's an amazing, uplifting experience to know that the people who live in my electorate are getting such good care. As the assistant minister referenced, they're all saying the same things—that people are spending less time waiting to go to the doctor, they're presenting earlier and they're appearing for follow-up consultations. So we can be assured that our primary health care is in better nick and that the people we represent here and the people that the member for Fowler represents are getting better service from their doctors, because they're accessing their doctors more often and their doctors are appreciating their walking through the door.

We've also made medicines cheaper. Millions of Australians rely on the PBS every year. In fact, seven in 10 Australians fill at least one PBS script annually. Since 22 July, the Albanese Labor government has expanded the PBS with 399—we need that number to go up by one, Minister—new and amended listings while also delivering the largest PBS price cuts in decades. I'm sure that, in the member for Fowler's electorate, people are feeling the value of that. They certainly are in the electorate that I represent, with the reduction of the maximum price of a PBS script down to $25 from over $40 under the former government, and, for pension and concession card holders, the price is just $7.70 per script—in law. That's $13.3 million on over 1.8 million scripts saved, and I'm sure the figures in the member for Fowler's electorate are similar because our electorates are so similar in terms of economic demographics. I welcome the opportunity every day to talk about the work that this government is doing in the health space, because, in my community, it is valued and it is appreciated. People understand the value of good health care.

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