Matt Keogh (Burt, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Veterans’ Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last week I welcomed the Assistant Minister for the Prevention of Family Violence to my community to see a new approach to supporting people in WA impacted by family, domestic and sexual violence. The Perth South FDSV Local Link pilot will help general practice teams to intervene early and connect victims-survivors with support. The pilot program in our community sees Anglicare in partnership with Starick, a local domestic violence support service that I was proud to be the chairperson of before entering parliament. Through this partnership, they are embedding social workers into general practice clinics in Perth's south-east, with plans to expand the program to accept referrals from any GP clinic in Gosnells and Armadale.

One clinic leading the way is Pramana Medical Centre in Gosnells, who walked Assistant Minister Kearney and me through their engagement with the program. Pramana is a leading general practice in our community and indeed in the country. Named Medicare champion award clinic earlier this year by the Minister for Health and Ageing, Pramana was just one of two centres in Western Australia receiving an award for their support to vulnerable communities and an innovative model of care.

I also want to offer my congratulations to Dr Raji Kirshnan from Pramana Medical Centre, who this year has been recognised with multiple awards for the amazing support she provides in Gosnells, with constant effort to reach disadvantaged communities and go that extra mile. In August Dr Raji was named the Western Australian GP of the Year by the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners and awarded the 2025 AMA President's Award. This month Dr Raji was named Australia's 2025 GP of the Year by the RACGP for her 'tireless and empathetic service', especially to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients. Congratulations to Dr Raji. Our community is so proud of you and grateful for the work that you do. It might be time to buy a new trophy cabinet, though!

This is all important because accessing a GP when you're sick should not be a struggle. The Albanese Labor government is delivering more bulk-billing for all Australians so that we can all see a GP for free. With the largest investment into Medicare ever, we've expanded the bulk-billing incentive to all Australians and are boosting payments to practices that bulk-bill every patient. In my community of Burt, we've already seen clinics signing up to bulk-bill every patient, and by 2030 nine out of every 10 visits to the GP will be bulk-billed, with triple the number of practices bulk-billing every patient. You can find a fully bulk-billed practice in our community by visiting the Healthdirect website. After a decade of Liberal cuts and neglect, we're turning around the freefall that they left our Medicare system in. Labor created Medicare, and the Albanese government is strengthening it.