I rise to speak on the motion moved by the member for Dickson. Let me say at the outset that there is a great deal in this motion that the coalition welcomes: new contraceptives for the PBS; Medicare rebates for menopause assessments; more support for women going through IVF. These are good reforms, they matter to women and I acknowledge them.

But I would gently make one point. Women's health does not belong to any one side of this place, and this work did not begin in 2022. It was, in fact, the coalition that launched the National Women's Health Strategy. In a single budget, we invested more than $350 million in the health of Australian women. That included new Medicare items for gynaecology and assisted reproduction, so women could get that care affordably. We also listed new medicines for ovarian and breast cancer on the PBS. It was also the coalition that first committed funding for dedicated endometriosis and pelvic pain clinics—the very clinics this motion celebrates.

Where this government has built on that foundation, we have welcomed it. At the last election, both sides of this parliament committed the same: $573 million for women's health. That is how it should be. Women should be able to expect that, whoever sits on either side of this chamber, their health is never a political football.

But a commitment on paper only counts when a woman can actually use it. A Medicare rebate for a menopause assessment only helps a woman who can get in to see a GP and afford the gap payment, and we know that, right now, in this Albanese Labor government cost-of-living crisis, too many women are going without the health care they need because household budgets are already stretched to breaking point.

Women are more likely to live with a chronic condition, more likely to be the carer in their family and more likely to put their own health last. They delay the scan; they put off the specialist; they wait, and they hope it is nothing.

Endometriosis affects around one in seven women, and it takes, on average, around seven years to diagnose—seven years, too often, of being told, 'It's nothing.' So there is more to do. We need more training for the health professionals women rely on. We need national clinical guidelines, so a woman gets the same standard of care wherever she lives, and we need secure, ongoing funding for the endometriosis and pelvic pain clinics.

There is one part of a women's health that this motion does not mention at all, and that's maternity care. Since 2022, at least 13 private maternity units have closed across Australia—in Darwin, in Hobart and on the Central Coast. In parts of this country, an expectant mother now has to travel for hours, away from her family, simply to have her baby safely. For a woman in labour, distance is not an inconvenience; it can be seriously dangerous. Every ward that closes puts more pressure on public hospitals that are already stretched. This is a challenge the whole parliament should take seriously, and I would urge the government to bring the same energy to it as it brought to the reforms in this motion.

The coalition will keep working with obstetricians, midwives and the hospitals on real solutions. In the end, it's women's health that is important, not who takes the credit. It is about whether a woman can get care that she can afford, care that she can reach and care that understands her.