Fiona Phillips (Gilmore, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Health and Ageing. How is the Albanese Labor government's record investment in bulk-billing making it easier for Australians to see a GP for free after a decade of cuts and neglect? What has been the response to these changes?

Mark Butler (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Gilmore is an amazing advocate for a stronger Medicare on the South Coast. Because of her relentless advocacy, we'll soon be extending the operating hours at the Batemans Bay urgent care clinic to 18 hours a day, seven days a week to soak up some of the demand that is going to flow from changes to the hospital at Batemans Bay that the New South Wales government has made. We'll also shortly announce details of the urgent care clinic at Nowra that is going to soak up some of the demand from the really busy emergency department at the Shoalhaven District Memorial Hospital.

But it's not just better urgent care that the member for Gilmore campaigns about. She's been out and about talking up our record investment in bulk-billing. She recently visited Grand Pacific Health Centre in Nowra, where the practice manager, Charise Morris, said this: 'This will make a huge difference. If people don't have to pay that gap for general consults, that's food in their mouths.' The Sussex Doctors at Sussex Inlet posted this on Facebook—she brought this to my attention:

Healthcare made more affordable at Sussex Doctors! We're proud to be a Fully Bulk Billing Clinic, ensuring everyone in our community can access quality medical care.

The Prime Minister will love this:

Your appointment covered by Medicare—just bring your card.

The Bomaderry Creek Health Centre also said on Facebook that they're bulk-billing all patients from 1 November 2025. Recently, the member met with GPs at the Queen Street Medical Centre at Moruya. They're also taking up this expanded bulk-billing incentive.

In just one week, the number of GP clinics in Gilmore that bulk-bill every patient that comes through their door has doubled. Today, almost half of the practices in Gilmore are 100 per cent bulk-billing, and that number will continue to grow because these clinics in regional Australia get an even bigger boost from our record investment than clinics in the city. The Medicare payment for a standard bulk-billed consult in a town like Moruya last week was $44. This week it is $87, double the price it was last week. It has doubled in one week. And those bulk-billing clinics, for 100 per cent of their patients, get 12½ per cent loading on top of that. That is why these clinics are making the shift. It's obviously good for their patients. The patients can go to their doctors when they need it rather than when they think they can afford it. But it's also good for the practice, and it's also good for the individual doctors. That's why the member for Gilmore is out there talking up our record investment.