Gabriel Ng (Menzies, Australian Labor Party) | Hansard source

Labor stands for equality of opportunity, and at the heart of equality of opportunity is accessible, universal health care. That's why, from 1 July, we'll deliver over $25 billion in additional funding for public hospitals over five years, including $5.8 billion in Victoria alone for places like Box Hill Hospital, which do so much to support members of my community in Menzies when they need it most.

At the last election, we promised we'd get bulk-billing rates up, and that's exactly what we've done. In Menzies, we now have 29 bulk-billing practices, up from 19 since just last year.

Since 1 July, 10 new medicines have been added to the PBS, including treatments for five different cancers along with new listings for severe asthma, autoimmune disorders and growth hormone deficiency.

Since we cut the maximum cost of PBS medicines to $25—and $7.70 for concession card holders—members of our community have saved over $600,000 at the pharmacy counter. Some of these medicines would have cost patients tens of thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket costs. Now, they're the same cost they were in 2004, when Shannon Noll's 'What About Me' was at the top of the charts.

I'd like to acknowledge our hardworking emergency doctors, nurses, GPs, pharmacists and every single health professional across Menzies and across the country. Better funded hospitals, more bulk-billing, cheaper medicines and urgent care clinics—that's what the Albanese Labor government promised and that's what we're delivering.

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