Andrew Wilkie (Clark, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Health and Aged Care. Minister, you've expressed concern at the state of primary care, and rightly so, considering bulk-billing continues to fall due to the grossly inadequate Medicare rebate. Of course, the previous government denied this and cooked the books by counting the number of bulk-billed services rather than the number of patients. So, Minister, will you fix this? Will you lift the rebate to bring relief to the millions of Australians who can't afford to see their GP?

Mark Butler (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Clark for his question, because he knows that it's never been harder and never more expensive to see a doctor than it is right now in Australia. And it's no mystery why. It's a direct result of nine long years of neglect of and cuts to Medicare—cuts that began when the now Leader of the Opposition was the Minister for Health. We remember that we managed to block his original, radical plan that would've imposed a GP tax on every single Australian going to the doctor, but he was determined to, by hook or by crook, hack into Medicare funding. So, instead, he imposed a freeze on Medicare rebates that lasted for six long years. It was a pay freeze on the nation's GPs while their costs were going up and up. As the member points out, this has created unprecedented pressure on bulk billing rates.

The former government was allergic to telling the truth about bulk billing, but the truth is that fully one in three Australians now are paying a gap to see their doctor. That number is increasing and the gap fee has never been higher than it is right now. Amazingly, for the first time in Medicare's history, the average gap fee to see a doctor right now is higher than the Medicare rebate itself—for the first time in the history of Medicare. That is why strengthening Medicare was the centrepiece of Labor's policy on health at the last election. We committed $750 million to strengthening Medicare—a fund with $250 million per annum ongoing. We brought together doctors, nurses, patient groups and others in a taskforce that I will chair leading up to Christmas to advise the government of the best way to invest those funds. There will be different views within that taskforce. But, as we saw last week, when you bring people together in a respectful, constructive dialogue—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order. The minister will resume his seat. I call the member for Clark on a point of order.

Andrew Wilkie (Clark, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

A point of order, Speaker, on relevance: the question goes to whether or not the government will increase the Medicare rebate for visiting a GP.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I call the minister, who is being relevant, but I ask him to return to that part of the question before his—

Honourable members interject ing—

Order!

Mark Butler (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As I just said, there will be different views from doctors, nurses and patient groups within that Strengthening Medicare Taskforce. But when you bring those groups together and engage in a respectful, constructive dialogue, you create the best outcomes for the Australian people. And I know that we will do that in that area as well. That taskforce and that fund also sit on top of our commitment to roll out 50 urgent-care clinics, bulk billed, including three in the member's state of Tasmania next year. That will be $220 million in grants to Australia's general practices—practices that deserve more than just our thanks for the extraordinary work that they've undertaken over recent years—and $146 million to strengthen general practice in rural and regional Australia. This government has no higher priority in health than strengthening general practice.