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

I rise to speak on the Appropriation Bill (No.3) 2025-2026. Since coming to office, the Albanese Labor government has been focused on strengthening Medicare and delivering more accessible and affordable health care for all Australians. As the Assistant Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention, the Assistant Minister for Rural and Regional Health and the federal member for Dobell on the Central Coast of New South Wales, I am proud of the progress that we're making.

Firstly, I want to highlight the real difference our network of Medicare urgent care clinics is making in my community and right across the country. Medicare urgent care clinics treat urgent but not life-threatening health conditions—a sprain, fracture, cut, minor infection, burn or viral illness. They're all fully bulk-billed, open extended hours and available every day with no appointment required. Since the first clinics opened in mid-2023, there have been more than 2.7 million presentations, including nearly half a million across New South Wales alone.

On the Central Coast, we opened two clinics in 2023, one in the north and one in the south. Since then, the Lake Haven and Umina Medicare urgent care clinics have seen more than 60,000 locals. Delivering on our election commitment to open a third Medicare urgent care clinic, I recently joined the member for Robertson for the opening of the new Erina Medicare Urgent Care Clinic. I'm delighted to share with the House that the Erina clinic has already seen more than 3,700 locals in the few short months it's been open. Crucially, these clinics are helping to ease pressure on Gosford and Wyong hospitals, where around 44 per cent of emergency presentations in the last financial year were for semi-urgent or non-urgent conditions.

Across the nation, our Medicare urgent care clinics are having a significant impact. With my responsibilities for rural and regional health, I've opened new Medicare urgent care clinics in Gladstone and Mackay, in Central and North Queensland, as well as in the outer suburbs—including the new Deception Bay Medicare Urgent Care Clinic alongside my friends the member for Petrie and Senator Mulholland. When speaking with locals in these communities across the country, many people have shared with me the difference, the real difference, access to urgent care is making to them and their families. Nicole from Deception Bay said:

I recently attended the clinic with my 4-year-old. We were seen quickly and did not feel like we were being rushed through for the next person. If you're feeling unsure, I would recommend attending.

Parents like Nicole are leading most of the presentations to Medicare urgent care clinics, with about one in four presentations being from children under 15 and more than one in four being out of normal clinic hours. So they are really opening up access to urgent care for children and families. That's what Labor governments do. We listen, we act and we deliver new health services for all Australians.

Our government is putting mental health at the heart of Medicare and services in the centre of communities. Our network of Medicare mental health centres is rapidly expanding, with 53 currently open, growing to 92 over the coming years. Medicare mental health centres are a new service offering wraparound mental health support and care and removing barriers to access. No appointment, no diagnosis, no referral—simply walk in and be greeted by a peer worker, someone who's likely walked in your shoes, because sometimes the best support you can have is from someone with their own lived experience.

I'm delighted that a brand new Medicare mental health centre will soon open on the Central Coast. It is expected to be up and running by the middle of this year. Operated by Grand Pacific Health, in partnership with Hunter Primary Care, Relationships Australia and Odyssey House, the new Central Coast Medicare Mental Health Centre will offer people in our community free walk-in wraparound care, close to home and when they need it. The centre will be staffed by a multidisciplinary team including psychologists, social workers, counsellors and peer workers. Importantly, the centre will be linked to our virtual network of specialist psychologists and psychiatrists. So if someone walks in and needs that extra expert support, it'll be available to them for free under Medicare.

When a young person needs free mental health care, headspace is a safe and welcoming place where they can seek support. As the minister responsible for headspace, I've now had the privilege of visiting more than 60 headspace centres across the country, from city centres like headspace Marion in Adelaide South to regional centres like headspace Townsville in North Queensland, to services in the most remote parts of our country such as headspace Mutitjulu on the eastern side of Uluru in Central Australia.

All our headspace centres are staffed by dedicated teams of clinicians and support staff with a collective goal of supporting young people, and I thank them for their ongoing work and dedication. In my part of the country, headspace Lake Haven continues to support young people on the northern end of the Central Coast, and I was proud to open the new and expanded service in 2023. The year before, in 2022, I had the real pleasure of opening a brand new Headspace in my home town of Wyong, which has been able to support more young people, particularly in our local schools. At the last election, as part of our record $750 million election commitment to youth mental health, we announced that Gosford headspace will be uplifted to a headspace Plus to care for the more complex and ongoing mental health challenges that many young people face today.

As a pharmacist, I also want to shine a light on the PBS changes that we've made to make medicines more affordable for all Australians. When we came to government, people were delaying or avoiding filling prescriptions because of cost, which was having an impact on their health and wellbeing. Since we came to government, we've reduced the cost of PBS general prescriptions from $42.50 down to $30 and now down to $25. The last time the PBS general copayment was $25 was early in my career as a pharmacist in 2004. Importantly, and I hear this in pharmacies that I visit right across the country, putting a freeze on concession prescriptions capped at $7.70 until the end of the decade, until 2030, is making a real difference in patients being able to access medication. No-one should be forced to make a decision about delaying or avoiding filling a prescription or skipping a prescription because of cost, and this is making a real difference to people in my community on the Central Coast of New South Wales and right across the country.

Another change that's making a really big difference in my community is fee-free TAFE. My late father was an engineer and a builder and, proudly, a TAFE teacher. I know the difference that quality education through TAFE has provided over decades in communities like mine on the Central Coast of New South Wales and right around the country, opening up opportunities, career pathways and business opportunities, and driving the local economy for so many local people. I'm pleased to share with the House that more than 13,000 people on the Central Coast have enrolled in a fee-free TAFE course, and many of these enrolments are in early childhood education and aged care, helping to train people in areas where workers are needed, particularly in a growing community like mine. I recently joined the team at Goodstart Tunmbi Umbi, who have trainees enrolled in fee-free TAFE courses, who are studying to be the next generation of early educators. I want to thank Goodstart Tumbi Umbi for the care that they provide on most days to 120 children. That is close to 200 families getting quality early childhood education also supported by the three-day guarantee, which is making a really big difference in communities like mine. But fee-free TAFE has saved locals a collective $12 million in tuition and course fees.

The Albanese Labor government is investing in our communities. It's investing in the outer suburbs, in the regions. We're providing cost-of-living relief, supporting individuals, families and businesses. I'm particularly proud to be part of a government that has restored bulk-billing, so improving access to care. As a pharmacist and as someone who worked at my local hospital for nearly 10 years, the difference that it is making to people in our community is profound. I know that we have more to do, and that will continue to be the focus of our government as we continue to roll out more support through urgent care clinics, Medicare mental health centres and headspace to make sure that every Australian, wherever they live and whatever their circumstances, has access to quality care that is close to home and that is affordable.

See this speech in context