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

Today, the Albanese Labor government holds more regional seats in this parliament than the Liberal Party does and than the National Party does. We don't just represent the regions; we are the voice of the regions. Since I became the member for Bullwinkel, I've made it my mission to ensure that our regional towns are seen and heard. I'm proud to say that I have welcomed more than 16 ministers to our electorate in the last year, and bringing those decision-makers of this country directly to our farms and our clinics and our local business is important.

While I was born and raised in the city, I served as a remote area nurse for two decades. I've been on the frontlines in the communities where the nearest hospital isn't just a few suburbs away but is a journey. I understand on a personal level that in the regions health care isn't just a policy area; it's a lifeline. And that's why I'm so proud that our government is delivering in health care, including the largest investment in the history of Medicare to ensure that nine out of 10 people are bulk-billed by 2030. We aren't just patching up a system; we are strengthening it from the ground up. We've committed an additional $1.8 billion to our public hospitals to reduce waiting times, bringing our total hospital funding to a record $33.9 billion.

In Northam, I had the honour of opening up our Medicare mental health urgent care clinic, which has already become a pillar of the community there. And, just 40 minutes up from the regional town, in the periurban township of Mundaring, we've opened the new Mundaring Medicare Urgent Care Clinic, which has already, in the last couple of months, seen over 1,600 visits. This is a fully bulk-billed urgent care clinic located right on the highway artery that serves our electorate and those people in regional areas. By June 2026, 47 of the 137 urgent care clinics will be in regional areas, providing the quality care that our families deserve.

But clinics, of course, are nothing without the people that staff them, and attracting professionals to the regions is a longstanding challenge that we acknowledge. That didn't just happen overnight, and it won't be fixed overnight, but we are making the biggest investment in decades. For example, we have waived HECS debt for doctors and nurses who work in our regions for five years. We've provided over $600 million to grow our health workforce, supporting hundreds of scholarships for nurses and midwives, and we are funding a record cohort of GP training places, 1,750 for this year alone. There is a huge focus within that on the Remote Vocational Training Scheme for hard-to-fill locations.

We know that productivity is lifted when we invest in our people, and that's why we also want our regional students to have the same opportunity as those in the city. Last year, I was incredibly proud to join Minister Jason Clare to officially open the northern Regional University Study Hub. This is one of 56 regional study hubs nationwide that have supported nearly 21,000 students. From Northam to Broome, we are ensuring you don't have to leave your home in the regions to get world-class education.

We stand with our primary producers. In York, I recently walked the farms with agriculture minister Julie Collins to meet with grain growers who were dealing with the high cost of diesel and fertiliser. To protect them, we're delivering a landmark $10 billion Australian Fuel Security and Resilience package. We also met with the shearers association to ensure that woolshed shearers are trained in the off season.

And, of course, beyond that there are cost-of-living relief measures—tax cuts for everyone, capping PBS medicines and 1800MEDICARE—and a doubling of the Roads to Recovery funding to $4.4 billion, with 85 per cent of that funding going to regional areas. And we're fixing the telecommunications and digital divide through our $1.1 billion Better Connectivity Plan for Regional and Rural Australia, bringing fibre upgrades to nearly one million regional premises. We are governing for all Australians. (Time expired)

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