Louise Miller-Frost (Boothby, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Affordable access to health care is critical, so I've been thrilled to see the really positive steps being put in place by the Albanese government and Minister Mark Butler after a decade of cuts and undermining of Medicare.

I was recently at the bulk-billing Castle Medical Centre in Edwardstown with Minister Butler for the announcement of the tripling of the bulk-billing incentive. Doctor Stephanie Ng told us that the majority of patients attending the clinic are children, the elderly and those on concession cards. Those opposite froze the Medicare rates for six long years, but the cost of running a practice didn't stop going up! Staffing, medical consumables, insurance and all the rest—those costs kept going up but the Medicare rate didn't. This is why we've seen so many GPs exit bulk-billing.

The tripling of the bulk-billing incentive gives GPs a reason to bulk bill again, making health care more affordable for patients. And the introduction of 60-day prescriptions means that people who have stable chronic disease on long-term medication can halve the cost of their medicines—again, making health care more affordable. We've also opened an endometriosis clinic in Glenelg and an urgent care clinic at Marion to take pressure off the emergency department at Flinders Medical Centre.

Health care only works if you can afford to access it, and preventative health care even more so. This government is committed to Medicare and committed to the health of our broader community.