Rebecca White (Lyons, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Women) | Hansard source

It was our government that came into office in 2022 with a clear mandate from the people of Australia to invest in care, to invest in our aged-care system and to invest in our healthcare system. That is what we have delivered—a $47 billion investment in aged care this year that will see more Australians get access to the packages of care that they deserve and more aged-care beds built and delivered right across the country.

This is a government that came to office after 10 years of a coalition government that neglected aged care, that cut funding to aged care and that oversaw a royal commission with one word as the title of that report, and it was 'neglect'. You come in here and preach about neglect. How about you look in a mirror and take responsibility for the outrageous way you treated older Australians and the neglect that you showed when you were in government?

Our government has not only prioritised care, taken that to the Australian people and receive their endorsement, but we have delivered on that. We have delivered on increases in wages for our aged-care workforce, who are the people at the very coalface looking after our older Australians. We have invested in a universal healthcare system through Medicare. We have provided greater access to bulk-billing doctor appointments. Just today, 84 per cent of doctor appointments across the country are fully bulk-billed, a significant increase because of the investment our government has made into healthcare. That benefits Australians of every age, including older Australians who can now go to a doctor for free.

We have made 137 Medicare urgent care clinics permanent, providing an option for older Australians, for all Australians of any age, to go and access the urgent healthcare that they need. That was a policy initiative that was designed and delivered by our Labor government. We have provided access to cheaper medicines, an initiative that is benefiting thousands upon thousands of Australians, including many thousands of older Australians who are now able to access the medicines that they deserve. Many of them are now just $7.70, a price that will remain in place until 2030. Our government has provided record hospital funding with the National Health Reform Agreement which concluded this year and sees $219.6 billion invested into our state and territory hospitals right around the country over the next five years. That will include access to elective surgeries.

Now, I don't for one minute deny the fact that there are older Australians who are worried about what the changes to the private health insurance subsidy will mean for their ability to retain their private health insurance. I've met with people in my electorate and I've spoken to them, but I think it's very unhelpful of the coalition to come in here and parrot the lines of industry and continue to scare older Australians.

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