Mary Doyle (Aston, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Albanese Labor government is strengthening Medicare like no government has done before. In my electorate of Aston in Melbourne's outer east, we are delivering more bulk-billing so more of my constituents can see a GP for free. Since Labor's reforms, a number of bulk-billing practices in my community has grown from 10 to now 27 bulk billing practices. There's also been the opening of the Maroondah Medicare urgent care clinic in Bayswater. Since it opened a few years back, the clinic has seen more than 22,500 visits, including one from my own daughter. People in Aston and the surrounding suburbs have been able to walk in, see a doctor or a nurse, receive the care they need and not pay a cent. And that is why Labor is making urgent care clinics a permanent part of Medicare.

Under Labor, medicines are cheaper. The maximum cost of a PBS script is now just $25, while concession card holders pay only $7.70. In Aston alone, there have been more than 2.7 million cheaper scripts delivered under Labor's cheaper medicine changes, with 99 million cheaper scripts across Victoria.

Labor is also delivering record funding for public hospitals, expanding Medicare mental health clinics across Australia and taking women's health seriously through endometriosis and pelvic pain clinics and contraceptives now listed on the PBS. On this side of the chamber, we know that Australians deserve quality healthcare without worrying about the cost, and under the Albanese Labor government, that's exactly what they're receiving.

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