Richard Marles (Corio, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The ongoing freeze of the Medicare rebate has driven up the cost of primary health care across Australia. That is being felt by many Australians, who expressed their voices in huge numbers at the last election. In my electorate of Corio, it is estimated that 12,000 people put off going to the doctor today because of the cost of primary health care and 15,000 people put off gaining their prescriptions because of the costs associated with that. Those numbers are most significant in the northern part of my electorate, in the northern suburbs of Geelong—Norlane and Corio—where health needs are at their most complex. It is in this part of my electorate that we see the highest rates of diabetes, for example. Diseases of poverty are most prevalent there. The refugee populations in my electorate are most concentrated in that part of it. Their health needs are particularly acute. Dr Mark Kennedy, who runs the Corio Medical Clinic, says:

We have more cases of diabetes coming into our clinic than anywhere else in the country. Our clinic and the public in Geelong's Northern suburbs have got long term benefits out of the former Labor government's Primary Care Infrastructure grants; they allowed us to expand and teach new GPs and medical students that are working across the country today.

Dr Abbas Mahmood from the Corio Bay Medical Centre says:

Refugees have a greater need for health care and life support infrastructure and a collaborative approach by doctor services will be better able to … support them.

Dr Ganes Kunjidapaadhum, who runs the First Point Medical Centre, says:

Instead of taking away doctors and health assets it's time the government starts adding doctors and health services dependent on what the public needs.

On 15 November—last Tuesday—I called a meeting of those three doctors, who between them cater to about 80 to 90 per cent of the primary health care needs in the north of Geelong, to talk about ways in which they could better coordinate and ways in which we could use them as a voice for the medical needs of the north of Geelong. There was a real sense of excitement amongst them about working together. There is an opportunity, I think, for them to work more closely and to coordinate their resources around, for example, servicing those refugees in the north of Geelong who need medical assistance. Operating with the council is also something which I think they can do better as a group, making sure that overseas doctors who come to Geelong are able to operate in the northern suburbs. This is an important forum. Along with Jason Trethowan, the CEO of the Western Victoria Primary Health Network, we are really excited about the opportunity it presents. (Time expired)