Dai Le (Fowler, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak for the people of Fowler and the wider south-western Sydney community who are increasingly feeling abandoned by this government's approach to health care. We hear the Labor government week after week boasting of a $6.1 billion record investment and strengthening Medicare. We hear about a universal card being the solution for all. I invite the Prime Minister and the health minister to come to Cabramatta and Fowler, not just during election time. Come and walk into a local GP's waiting room in Liverpool or Fairfield, because the reality here is vastly different from the rosy picture painted in the Canberra bubble.

The truth is that a gold card doesn't mean a golden ticket to treatment. Just last month, my constituent Luis took a family member to Fairfield Hospital Emergency with a broken ankle. They waited six long hours, six hours of waiting in pain, because of a chronic shortage of doctors and nurses. Even worse—they had no equipment or specialist to treat the injury, and they were told to go to Liverpool Hospital. That six-hour transfer is the true measure of a 'strengthened' Medicare in Fowler.

In Fowler, we face a silent crisis. Our heroic local general practitioners are retiring. No-one is replacing them. Young doctors are not coming to south-west Sydney. Why should they? A GP can set up practice in affluent suburbs in the east and north, charge a high gap fee and work reasonable hours. Compare that to a GP in Fowler. Our community has a high proportion of refugees and migrants. We have high rates of chronic disease, complex mental health needs and language barriers. Our people cannot afford gap fees. They rely entirely on bulk-billing. This government's incentives are a blunt instrument. They fail to recognise that a bulk-billing consultation in a disadvantaged area like mine is often far more complex and time consuming. The promised urgent care clinics are a bandaid. They may take pressure off an ED for a broken arm, but they do not manage diabetes or complex PTSD. They do not build the trust needed for vulnerable patients. Only a regular local GP does that.

If we want to save universal health care, we must stop pretending that south-western Sydney is the same as the affluent east or north. I call on the government to introduce targeted geographical incentives for GPS operating in areas of high socioeconomic disadvantage. I'm asking for a Fowler loading, a specific targeted incentive that says to every bright young medical graduate: 'Your skills are needed here. Your complex work will be valued and compensated.' Please don't tell my community you're investing billions in their health while their local clinics are closing. Fund the doctor, not just the card, so my constituents can get the care that they deserve.