Matt Burnell (Spence, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today I rise to talk about the Albanese Labor government's work to strengthen Medicare and deliver cheaper medicines for Australians. Medicare is at the heart of our health system, and Labor is making the largest investment in Medicare since its creation more than 40 years ago. We are investing $8.5 billion to deliver nearly 20 million extra bulk-billed GP visits each year, funding hundreds of nursing scholarships and training thousands more doctors. By 2030, nine in 10 GP visits will be bulk-billed, saving patients and families $859 million a year and tripling the number of fully bulk-billed practices across the country.

Labor has also delivered 90 Medicare urgent care clinics, with more than 1.8 million Australians already having been treated. In South Australia, that's more than 111,000 appointments that have been made possible thanks to the delivery of the urgent care clinics. Imagine a heaving MCG crowd on grand final day. That's how many people have received urgent care in South Australia alone. These clinics are open seven days and fully bulk-billed—no appointment needed—making priority care easily accessible for everyone. We are also making medicines cheaper, cutting the PBS co-payment to $25 from 1 January 2026—the lowest in more than 20 years. This builds on the biggest cuts to PBS costs in history, 60-day prescriptions and freezing PBS prices until 2030—because only Labor will deliver cheaper medicines and a stronger Medicare for— (Time expired)