Peta Murphy (Dunkley, Australian Labor Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

About a quarter of all GPs in the Frankston catchment area in my electorate of Dunkley have applied for exceptional circumstances to be granted distribution priority status. What does that mean? It means that almost a quarter of the GP clinics in my community cannot get enough GPs to service the needs of the people in my community, including some of the most needy people in my community, quite frankly—people who can't afford to pay out of pocket to travel across my electorate to find a clinic that has enough GPs, people who have complex, ongoing, chronic health issues and need the best care they can get, people who are being looked after by amazing doctors and dedicated clinics but who can't get in fast enough and early enough to see these doctors at these clinics, because these clinics struggle to find enough GPs to cater for the need.

Why is this the case? You might start with recognising that, in 2017, the Liberal government removed distribution priority status from many outer metropolitan areas, including the Frankston catchment in my electorate.

Mark Coulton (Parkes, National Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

In accordance with the resolution agreed to earlier, the debate is interrupted.

Sitting suspended from 17:00 to 17:30