Susan Templeman (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes:

(a) that on 1 January 2026:

(i) the pharmaceutical benefits scheme co-payment for general patients was reduced to $25, the lowest price since 2004;

(ii) 1800 Medicare was launched, giving Australians access to free 24 hours a day, seven days a week quality health advice over the phone; and

(iii) Medicare Mental Health Check-In commenced, providing a new free digital mental health service offering self-help tools; and

(b) the Government's record investment in bulk billing which has resulted in:

(i) more than 3,300 fully bulk billing general practitioner practices across Australia, with almost 1,250 of these practices previously mixed billing; and

(ii) rising bulk billing rates and a stronger Medicare; and

(2) acknowledges that only this Government can be trusted to strengthen Medicare.

Some people are aware that the second half of 2025 was a very challenging year for my family, with both my husband and then my mother surviving potentially life-threatening health incidents. They each survived and in fact are thriving thanks to world-class doctors, surgeons, nurses, physios and rehab specialists, both in hospital and in primary care, who saved their lives and helped them return to good health. It was yet another firsthand reminder for me of how important your health is, not just to the individual, and how health and ill health have repercussions for the whole family and overshadow other parts of your life.

For me, it further reinforced how vital our improvements to Medicare are in people getting the health care they need when they need it. But, when we came to government in 2022, it had never been harder or more expensive to find a GP. Bulk-billing was in freefall after a decade of cuts and neglect to Medicare, which is why we delivered more doctors, more bulk-billing and cheaper medicines and opened 87 Medicare urgent care clinics, including in Penrith, in our first term of government. We committed to opening another 50 urgent care clinics in the 2025 election, including in the Hawkesbury. And I am so proud that last week the Medicare urgent care clinic that my community advocated for began operating in Windsor and is busy seeing patients, bulk-billing them for urgent care and helping to take pressure off the local hospital.

Macquarie residents are also benefiting from the additional $8.5 billion to deliver more bulk-billed GP visits, hundreds of nursing scholarships and thousands more doctors. In November 2025, the government created an additional new incentive payment for general practices that bulk-bill every single patient. In Macquarie, there are now 22 bulk-billing practices from the top of the mountains down to the plains and across to the Hawkesbury, including in places like Glossodia. That doesn't mean that we think the job is done. By 2030, we expect to see nine out of 10 GP visits bulk-billed, and we have work to do to address the areas that are not providing the accessibility or affordability that we think people deserve, including around Katoomba.

Every day, Macquarie residents are saving money when they fill a script covered by the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. From 1 January this year we cut the cost to $25 for a PBS script. This is more than a 20 per cent cut in the maximum cost of PBS medicines and will save Australians over $200 million each year. A script hasn't been this cheap since 2004. Concession patients pay no more than $7.70 for the rest of this decade, and 60-day prescriptions for around 300 common medicines mean millions of Australians with a stable, ongoing health condition are saving time and money. Since September 2023, Australians have saved more than $350 million on 60-day prescriptions alone. Across Macquarie, cheaper medicines mean patients have saved $11.6 million on more than 1.4 million scripts. Labor went to the 2025 election promising Australians we'd make medicines cheaper, and we're delivering on that promise.

On the one-year anniversary of the landmark $792.9 million women's health package, the government's continuing to deliver on the promise of more choice, lower costs and better care for Australian women and girls. More than 600,000 women have accessed more than two million cheaper scripts for contraceptives, menopausal hormone therapies and endometriosis treatments—all newly listed on the PBS. We've had the first PBS listing for a new contraceptive in more than 30 years and the first for new menopausal hormone therapies in over 20 years. These are all making a difference. Over 6,700 women with endometriosis have accessed treatment at PBS prices, saving $4.9 million. These are big steps forward for women's health, and there's more to come. The new endometriosis, pelvic pain and menopause clinic is opening this month at Winmalee Medical Centre. There are many women who benefit from their care.

Marion Scrymgour (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded?

Kate Thwaites (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

Ben Small (Forrest, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I do sympathise with the member for Macquarie and her struggles in accessing quality health care for her family. Unfortunately, my experience since being elected is that I've got to oil the hinges on my office door every week for the number of people that are coming to me, basically in desperation and in pain, because the Prime Minister of Australia went to them at the last election, waving his Medicare card around and saying, 'Vote for me, and I will ensure you can see a doctor for free.' At no point did he reach into his other pocket and pull out his credit card. The sad reality, for the people in my part of Australia, is that accessing a GP for free is far too difficult and far too rare. In fact, if you live in the city, it might be possible to access better Medicare, but, if you live in places like Forrest, you pay more and you wait longer. This is borne out by the statistics, not by the hyperbole that we hear from the government benches.

We hear from them that Medicare is getting stronger, but, like I say, in the south-west of Western Australia, families are getting nothing but lies. This is because, in 2024-25, only 48 per cent of country residents in WA were consistently bulk-billed. At the same time, some 81 per cent of residents in south-western Sydney were bulk-billed. That is the tyranny of distance that regional Australians face. That is why people in the seat of Forrest are paying more and waiting longer to see a doctor under this government's failure to administer Medicare equitably.

Statewide, WA saw only a one per cent improvement, despite major incentive spending. The government suggests that 1,000 previously mixed bulk-billing clinics are now fully bulk-billed, and yet there is absolutely no data to suggest that the dial has moved by one clinic in the seat of Forrest. This $8½ billion package, funded by you as taxpayers, has delivered absolutely nothing for the residents of south-western Australia seeking to attend a doctor.

As always, it pays to look at what Labor do not what Labor say when it comes to health funding. One of the very first acts of the Albanese government in 2022 was to slash the funding for mental health appointments in half, reducing the number of bulk-billed appointments from 20 to 10 per year. Consequent to that decision, Australians accessed 250,000 fewer subsidised psychology sessions in 2022-23 compared to the year before. I don't know about any of you listening to this, but I don't walk down the streets of my community and hear stories of mental health struggles being halved in the last couple of years. In fact, it's quite the opposite. Across all ages and all demographics of our community, mental health is the No. 1 issue that people talk about when it comes to accessing health. Like I say, don't look at what they say; look at what they do. That was one of the very first acts of this government—to slash the mental health allowance in half. Forrest and other regional areas are particularly impacted by these changes because we face perennial workforce shortages, long waitlists and limited clinical availability. Removing these services and access to important elements like mental health puts regional Australians at a disadvantage compared to our metropolitan cousins.

With bulk-billing now significantly lower in regional Western Australia compared to metropolitan areas, with less access to mental health supports than under the previous government, and with the simple lie of the Prime Minister wandering around with only his Medicare card and failing to mention you need a credit card—a promise he made some 71 times in the lead-up to the last election—it is no wonder my constituents are coming to me saying: 'Why is it so? Why is it that, because I live in a country area, my family has to pay more and wait longer for something so simple as going to the doctor?'

Kate Thwaites (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is a privilege to rise to speak on this motion because it is fundamental to what this government is about and to what Labor governments are about. At its heart, it's about how we regard being Australian—that access to quality universal health care which Labor governments always stand up for. On that note, it was disingenuous of the member for Forrest to say things have in fact got worse under this government. What has happened under this government is we have reversed the freefall in Medicare bulk-billing that was happening under those opposite. We have opened Medicare urgent care clinics right around this country. Those opposite did not do that. They did not offer this opportunity for walk-in, bulk-billed care in our communities.

In fact, in my community we now have two Medicare urgent care clinics. Just recently, over summer, a new clinic opened in Eltham, providing fully bulk-billed treatment for non-life threatening illnesses and injuries without the long waits people too often face in emergency departments. That joins the one we had existing in Heidelberg, on Burgundy Street, which has supported thousands of locals since it opened in 2022. I see this firsthand in my community—parents of young children who otherwise knew they were in for a long wait at an emergency department after, perhaps, an injury at a sporting event, and elderly people who feel like they just need to be seen and can't get into their regular GP at that time. This clinic is providing all those people and others with support and care they never had before, and it is providing it because this Albanese Labor government believes in Medicare, because we are funding Medicare in our communities.

One local, Riana, shared her experience with me, saying she went to the clinic when her daughter was in severe pain. She described the staff there as welcoming and compassionate, and the doctor as knowledgeable, and said the care helped to ease her daughter's pain. For her, the relief was finding the clinic, not having to wait as long and having that peace of mind almost immediately. On that note, I acknowledge the incredible doctors and nurses who keep these clinics running and who are part of our Medicare system. I've had wonderful feedback about the people who work in these clinics.

At the Eltham clinic, Sharrine shared that, after finding all the GP appointments fully booked, she was feeling overwhelmed and on the verge of tears. She was able to meet with a staff member there, Allison, who took the time to listen, who treated her with care and understanding and who went out of her way to help. It's that approach that means people are getting both the empathy and the care they need. It's a testament to the value we put on Medicare.

Outside of Medicare clinics, we are delivering cheaper medicines for people in our community. We have reduced the maximum cost of PBS prescriptions to $25, and to $7.70 for concession card holders. In Jagajaga locals have now saved more than $15.4 million from 1.7 million cheaper prescriptions. This is real cost-of-living relief, and it means people are able to access these prescriptions without worrying about what trade-offs they're making in their lives. We do not want to see people going without medicines—they should have the medicines they need to have—because they are needing to make choices about what they pay for. That is, again, a fundamental tenet of this government; it is what we believe in. We believe that access to these medications, to this health care, should be for all Australians, not just for some.

We've introduced 1800MEDICARE, where locals can now access free 24/7 health advice from registered nurses. So whether you need expert guidance or simple reassurance, the nurses at 1800MEDICARE are available around the clock. They can refer you to the right care—whether that is back to your regular GP, a local hospital or a Medicare urgent care clinic.

We've made major changes to bulk-billing, tripling the incentives for GPs to bulk-bill. Again, I get a lot of feedback about this in our community. I'm pleased to see that the Greensborough Medical and Dental Clinic on Flintoff Street is now 100 per cent bulk-billing for GP visits. I know other clinics in my community are following suit. Again, this is making a real difference to people's lives. But these are the investments that only happen under Labor governments. Under those opposite, bulk-billing was in free fall. We did not have walk-in Medicare urgent care clinics. We did not have the discounts that we've made on PBS scripts, because those opposite do not understand that part of being Australian is having access to good quality health care.

Mary Aldred (Monash, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Before turning to the context and substance of this motion, I just want to spend a couple of moments remarking on the closure of Leongatha Healthcare clinic in January, which has put an enormous strain on the south Gippsland community. For decades, the clinic's been the backbone of primary health care in the region, serving thousands of patients. Its abrupt closure has left staff and patients with little notice and disrupted access to vital care, creating immense pressure on Leongatha memorial's urgent care centre. There are GPs and staff working around the clock right now, with no pay from that clinic, to provide support to local patients. I want to acknowledge the significant effort that they're going to and extend, on behalf of the people of Monash, my sincere appreciation for their dedication and care to our local community.

Despite these challenges, the entire Leongatha health community have really gone above and beyond to keep that care flowing. They've mobilised quickly to provide telehealth consultations, alternative GP arrangements, patient support and much more. Those efforts ensure that, even in the face of the uncertainty at the moment, the wellbeing of south Gippsland residents remains the top priority. It highlights the vital role of regional healthcare teams. I also want to acknowledge the tremendous efforts of my state coalition colleagues Danny O'Brien and Melina Bath in working with local residents and GPs to make sure we get through this very, very challenging time.

Health care in regional areas is absolutely essential. What we're seeing at the moment is a prime minister who does not walk the talk when it comes to investing and supporting communities like mine in Monash, whether it's challenges in south Gippsland or, indeed, the West Gippsland Hospital, which was built pre-World War II—in fact, parts of it were built pre-World War I.

We are experiencing explosive population growth right across west Gippsland. In fact, if you listen to the demographer Bernard Salt, Warragul and Drouin are the fastest growing towns anywhere in Australia. The fact is that the infrastructure at West Gippsland Hospital cannot keep pace with that population demand. I'm working with my state Liberal colleague Wayne Farnham, the member for Narracan, to push as hard as we can to advance the case for a new west Gippsland hospital, which our region desperately needs. Unfortunately, successive state and federal Labor governments have ignored that plight. The Victorian state Labor government could not care less about the need for a new west Gippsland hospital, and I know Wayne Farnham is taking up the fight every single week to advance that.

On Medicare, we've seen a prime minister repeatedly promise that seeing a GP would be free—all you'd need is your Medicare card. Yet I get emails and phone calls every single week from Monash residents who are facing out-of-pocket costs at now record rates to visit their GP—particularly going over $50. Health inflation, as we know, has risen by 18 per cent. Across Victoria, families are paying billions of dollars of out-of-pocket costs every year, money coming straight out of their pockets—not Medicare. I get emails regularly from local families telling me they cannot keep their heads above water. They are really struggling with the cost of health care in their community. A good example is mental health. I'm working with some amazing local organisations, including the Village Health centre in Warragul. I've previously been a member of the board of Lifeline Gippsland. I know how many volunteers in our community are dedicated to advancing mental health needs.

But, when you've got a government that cut Medicare subsidised sessions from 20 a year—which the coalition secured—to 10 a year, it goes to show where their priorities are, and they are not investing in regional mental health services. They're not investing in regional health services that we so desperately need in the Monash electorate and further afield. Regional Australians are not getting a fair go from this government when it comes to investing in the services that they need. They deserve a far better go on health and hospitals. We've had the Prime Minister write to state premiers saying, 'Please stop spending so much money on hospitals,' as if people can stop getting sick. In regional communities like mine, those emergency departments are overflowing because of a lack of investment by successive state and federal Labor governments. Australians deserve better. My electorate of Monash deserves far better.

Carina Garland (Chisholm, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I really want to thank the member for Macquarie for putting this motion to the House. This is really important to this side of the House and important to me. On this side of the House, we believe that, no matter someone's postcode or income, they should have equitable access to free, quality care. Protecting and enhancing Medicare is one of the reasons that I put my hand up to run as a member of parliament. I feel so strongly about making sure Australia has a really strong healthcare system. Part of this is because I grew up in a family where my dad was a GP, my mum was a nurse and they ran their own medical practice. The importance of equitable access to health care is something that has been instilled in me from a very young age.

I'm really proud to be able to advance our healthcare system here as a member of the Albanese Labor government. Of course, Labor is the party of Medicare, which was first introduced through Prime Minister Gough Whitlam's government as Medibank; was then, unfortunately, abolished by the subsequent Liberal government; and was then reintroduced as Medicare by the Hawke government. We've got, on this side of the House, a very strong track record in actually establishing, protecting and enhancing public health, as opposed to those opposite, who abolish and undermine universal health care in this country.

Having a system like Medicare is a fundamental part of what a lot of us think of as the Australian way of life. This is a really great example of Australian exceptionalism. It has improved the overall health of the country, increased our life expectancy and eliminated medical related bankruptcies, which did happen with frequency in this country before Medibank and then Medicare were implemented. When we first came to government in 2022, bulk-billing was in freefall after an appalling decade of cuts and neglect, and it had never been harder or more expensive to find a doctor. That's not what I want for Australia or for our communities. It's not what anyone on this side of the House wants.

That's why strengthening Medicare was a key focus of our election platform and has been a consistent focus for our government. We're a government who follow through with our commitments. In our first term of government, we delivered more doctors, more bulk-billing and medicines cheaper than what had been delivered for some time, and we opened 87 Medicare urgent care clinics. I've got an urgent care clinic in my electorate in Chisholm that has already opened—in Mount Waverley—and we've also got one on the way in the Stonnington council area. We've also committed to opening another 50 urgent care clinics across the country. A total of 122 urgent care clinics are currently open.

The data shows us the benefits of these bulk-billed urgent care clinics, with over 14,000 people in my community receiving quality, timely care, which, importantly, takes pressure off emergency departments and allows people to be seen sooner for their needs. I'm really grateful to the medical professionals who work in the urgent care clinics for their compassion, care and dedication.

Our government has, of course, gone beyond funding just Medicare urgent care clinics to funding privately owned practices as well with our investment of $8.5 billion to deliver more bulk-billed GP visits each year and expanding bulk-billing incentives, creating an additional new incentive payment for practices that bulk bill every patient. This means that nine out of 10 visits to GPs will be bulk billed by 2030, boosting the number of fully bulk-billed practices to around 4,800 nationally, which is triple the current number of practices. I can see how this is taking hold in Chisholm. In my electorate, we now have 29 bulk-billing practices, which is an increase from the 11 that were previously mixed billing. I'm really proud that I can deliver something like that for my community, making sure that people get the care that they need when they need it.

This is a real game changer for people. It's real cost-of-living relief for families. Again, I thank all of the healthcare professionals who work in private practice for their dedication and care and for their commitment to people being able to access equitable health care. Of course, we've delivered cheaper medicines too. We're investing in mental health care. We know how important it is that Australians have governments that protect and expand our healthcare services in this country, and I'm really proud to speak to this motion.

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am in furious agreement with the good member for Chisholm when she says that it should not matter what your postcode is to get access to health services. One-hundred per cent—the member for Chisholm is absolutely right. But the trouble is that it doesn't ring true. The trouble is that this Labor government has not done what it says it was going to do when it comes to bulk-billing or access and availability of health services. In fact, it's been an abysmal, dismal failure.

Bulk-billing rates have gone from 88 per cent to 77 per cent. That's an 11 per cent drop. It doesn't matter how those members opposite colour it, how they argue it or how often they say that they are doing something. It doesn't matter how often that is the case; saying it doesn't make it true. Bulk-billing rates have dropped.

What did we see when somebody complained about this in the media to the health minister from the leafy suburbs of Adelaide? He said, 'Well, if you can't get a bulk-billing doctor, pick up the phone and ring another one.' That might be well and good in Adelaide. It doesn't cut it in regional Australia. In some communities in regional Australia you're lucky if you've got a doctor at all, let alone trying to phone for another doctor to get an appointment. In country Australia it shouldn't be the case that, when in pain, catch the plane. You should be able to have access and availability of a doctor when you need it, but the difficulty is that we don't.

Thank goodness we've got the Murray-Darling Medical Schools Network, which was set up and established by a coalition government—a coalition government which recognised that regional Australians have health issues too. This government does not provide equity for postcodes when it comes to health provision. We see that with the urgent care clinics. I hear the member for Lyne all the time going on about Taree. Taree and a whole host of other regional centres don't have those regional aftercare clinics, those emergency care clinics, and that's just one point. When it comes to bulk-billing and a whole myriad of other health access services, they are just not there. The access is missing.

Then we have the member for Macquarie moving this motion. It's true that, over the last election period when everyone was trying to win power, the Prime Minister said on no less than 71 occasions: 'It's okay, just produce your Medicare card. That will get you by.' It's not true, and it doesn't matter how often he says it. It doesn't matter how often he said it then, and it doesn't matter how often he says it at the dispatch box now. The services aren't available and, if they are, you've got to pay through the nose for it.

It is all well and good for those Labor seats or those marginal seats that Labor wants to win to add to its majority to get those clinics, but in regional Australia, where people matter too, they're missing out, and that's not good enough. That's not fair, and they're not convinced by the Prime Minister, the health minister or anybody else saying that there is equity in postcodes when it comes to health services, because there is not. There simply is not, and regional people are suffering as a result—regional people who already have lower longevity and, unfortunately, have more cancers and that type of thing. They are going without, and I just despair when I see so many Labor members getting up and hear them reading the talking points that they've been given. It doesn't matter how convincingly they say it; it doesn't make it true.

We do need more bulk-billing. We do need more access to better health services and care. We particularly need it in regional Australia—in the Northern Territory, in the Riverina or wherever it might be. Just because a motion might be on the books, that doesn't mean to say it's right or true.

Tania Lawrence (Hasluck, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Medicare was built on a simple belief: that access to health care should never depend on your bank balance. It is a system that has been based on our social compact for more than 40 years, ensuring that every Australian, no matter their circumstances, can receive care when they need it, and it's a reflection of who we are as a nation: fair and decent and compassionate. That belief was on full display when the Prime Minister stood with our community in Ellenbrook in Hasluck very recently, on the weekend, at the Ellenbrook Medicare Urgent Care Clinic—already, in fact, one of the busiest in Western Australia, with over 2,000 presentations since opening just in December. The Prime Minister and I met with the doctors, the nurses and the other staff and with families that were seeking care with their Medicare card, not their credit card. We were shown the new facilities by Dr Tun, Dr Sharma, Dr Guest and, of course, their amazing staff. Seriously, Hasluck is in really great hands.

Our urgent care clinics are a modern embodiment of Medicare's founding principles: universal, accessible, high-quality care delivered close to home. As we walked through that clinic together, the Prime Minister spoke about how critical it is in a country as vast as ours that every community, including fast-growing outer suburbs like those in my electorate, can rely on strong primary care. He spoke about the importance of easing pressure on families and ensuring families aren't forced to navigate emergency departments for minor injuries or fevers. We saw firsthand that this model works. The Ellenbrook clinic is taking the load off our St John of God Midland hospital, and it's giving families a safe, local, alternative.

But what struck me most was how the Prime Minister connected this moment back to Medicare's history. He reminded us that Labor built Medicare and that each generation of Labor governments has had to renew it, defend it and strengthen it. Medicare has always required stewardship. It has always needed champions willing to expand access, modernise the care, reinforce the principle of universality and, of course, mend the years of coalition neglect, and that is exactly what this government is doing.

In the early 1980s, Medicare was a bold idea. Today it's a national treasure but a treasure that cannot be taken for granted. As communities like mine grow, as medical needs evolve and as people live longer with more complex conditions, Medicare must keep evolving too. We have delivered more doctors, more bulk-billing and cheaper medicines and opened 87 Medicare urgent care clinics in our first term, and we've committed to another 50—and 122 clinics are now open nationwide.

These clinics are doing exactly what they were designed to do. Since late 2022, 2½ million Australians have walked into an urgent care clinic and received treatment with their Medicare card not their credit card. I count myself amongst them, having received treatment at the fabulous Morley urgent care clinic and most recently having visited, with my own mother, Midland Urgent Care Clinic, where she received fantastic care that would have saved her many, many hours of sitting waiting for the same outcome at a hospital. We're very grateful for that quick and efficient service and treatment by the staff.

We are also driving the largest investment in bulk-billing in Medicare's history—an $8½ billion package that is already delivering results. More than 3,300 practices are now fully bulk-billing, including around 1,250 that were previously charging mixed fees. We are absolutely on track towards our goal that by 2030 nine in 10 GP visits will be bulk-billed, and I really am pleased with the undertakings by the GP clinics in my electorate of Hasluck to work through the processes to enable those clinics also to be bulk-billing so we can see a similar uplift to what we've seen from the previous speakers, where they've got some 32-odd. I look forward to seeing a similar number in mine.

Medicines are cheaper too. Since 1 January, patients are no longer paying any more than $25 for a script. In Hasluck, that saving has translated to around 1.7 million scripts. In Hasluck that has meant a saving of around $13.7 million. That is back into the pockets of constituents in my electorate.

Cameron Caldwell (Fadden, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

For this particular motion today, honestly, I suspect that the member has gone straight to the Labor Party talking points, pressed print and gone, 'Let's talk about that today.' There's been no real thought, no real effort to design something that might appear to be genuine. What we've seen today is nothing more than just a spit-out of the Labor talking points. I say that because it's so limited in what they actually write in these things.

The first thing that I wanted to pick up on is the effort by this Labor government to only talk about the cost of medicines back in 2004. Now, it's great that the copayment has been reduced to $25. They all went out and did videos talking about what things were like in 2004. Well, I'll tell you what life was like in 2004. You could buy a bottle of milk for $2.80, and you could buy a loaf of bread for about $2.50. Now, sadly, the Labor government has lost control of the budget so badly that the cost-of-living pressures that Australians are facing have skyrocketed under this government, and the cost of those everyday essentials has now completely eroded any gain that they think they might have been able to get under this government from their PBS medicine discount. That's life under Labor. You're feeling poorer every payday because life costs more. Then they give you a drip feed of a little corflute slogan that they're going to wheel out in an election, but it doesn't touch the sides in reality.

Let me talk about bulk-billing, because Labor continue to bang on about bulk-billing, but sadly their track record since they came to office in 2024 is utterly appalling. We heard the member for Riverina talk about the bulk-billing rates having dropped from 88 per cent to 77 per cent under this government. What that looks like in reality is that, in my electorate of Fadden, in the year of 2021-22 it was 1.594 million visits. That fell under this Labor government, under this minister for health and ageing and under this prime minister by 353,000 visits to the point where in 2023-24 it was down to 1.2 million visits. It's an 11 per cent reduction in bulk-billing. That's what's happened and that's what patients are dealing with in my electorate. And in fact that's what they're dealing with all over Australia. The patient experience goes beyond what Labor puts in their talking points and what they put in their motions to speak to here in this place.

The other problem that we've seriously encountered as a community is the out-of-pocket expenses that keep rising. I was just talking to the member for Moncrieff, who also acts as the shadow minister for youth, and the out-of-pocket expenses are disproportionately hurting those that can least afford it, including young Australians. As the shadow assistant minister for mental health, I am acutely aware of the pain that's being caused to younger Australians, who don't feel like they can go and get a GP visit when they need it. The average out-of-pocket GP costs have reached a historic high of more than $50—an eight per cent jump in just one year. What that means is that Australians are avoiding about 10,000 GP visits every single day.

Whilst Labor talk to their talking points and talk a big game on Medicare and bulk-billing, the real-life, lived experience in our communities is that people are not getting in to see GPs when they need to, and, when they do, they have to cough up hundreds of dollars upfront, with massive out-of-pocket expenses. If this is what Labor think is their custodianship of the health system, if Labor think that they are the standard-bearers based on this track record, they should be ashamed. Australians deserve better. We all need to get Medicare health and other services at the price that we can afford and in the places we need them, and that includes Taree.

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

On Friday I met with Dr Eva Morris and her husband and practice manager, Jason Morris, at the St Georges Basin Medical Centre, who jumped at the chance to register for the Bulk Billing Practice Incentive Program. Dr Morris said they took up the incentive because it's good for their business and good for their patients. They want to make a difference in their community, and they want to help their patients, including older patients, many with multiple health conditions, and young families, who are feeling the cost-of-living pinch. They're also helping to train new doctors in the region, which is fantastic.

The St Georges Basin Medical Centre is one of 32 medical practices across Gilmore that have transitioned to fully bulk-billing all patients. I'm so pleased that, since the bulk-billing incentive program came into effect, on 1 November, the number of fully bulk-billing medical practices in my electorate has almost tripled. This is an absolute game changer for local patients, who now have improved access to the health care they need with just their Medicare card, not their credit card.

Delivering on this election commitment is a massive help for families living in the smaller towns and villages in my electorate. Doctors in places like Gerringong, Shoalhaven Heads, Culburra Beach, Callala Bay and Sussex Inlet are now fully bulk-billing. People can now see a doctor for free at fully bulk-billed practices in the villages of Mollymook, Surf Beach and Broulee and in the major towns of Nowra, Moruya and Ulladulla. I know this important cost-of-living measure is helping struggling families and older people in my region and right across the country, thanks to the Albanese Labor government's single-largest investment in Medicare since its creation more than 40 years ago. From 1 January this year, we've introduced a whole gamut of health services that are saving the hip pocket and, importantly, saving lives around the nation.

We're ensuring Australians can access the medicines they need at an affordable price, with PBS scripts now capped at $25, or just $7.70 for those who hold a concession card. Without the PBS, Australian patients would pay thousands of dollars for life-saving medicines. Instead, $25 PBS scripts will save Australians more than $200 million each year.

We're adding more life-saving and disease-preventing medicines to the PBS every month to help men, women and children. Just last week, Andriga-10 was added to the PBS to provide life-changing help for men with an aggressive form of prostate cancer. Without the PBS, patients might pay $930 per script. Since July 2022 we've approved extra funding for 399 new and amended listings on the PBS. As a woman and a mum, I know just how much we're helping women and their families by subsidising the cost of contraceptive pills, hormone therapies for menopause, and medicines for endometriosis. In just one year, more than 610,000 Australian women have saved money since essential women's health medications were listed on the PBS as part of our landmark $792.9 million women's health package. From 1 January, Australians have had even better access to free health advice, with the 1800MEDICARE telehealth service, website and mobile app. The new Medicare Mental Health Check In also went live on New Year's Day, giving easy and free access to early support for Australians experiencing mild mental health challenges.

Of course, we're opening more Medicare urgent care clinics in every corner of the country, and I'm proud to say the Batemans Bay Urgent Care Clinic is going great guns and is operating 18 hours a day. I know my community cannot wait for the doors to open on the new Medicare urgent care clinic in Nowra very soon, which will take pressure off Shoalhaven Hospital's emergency department.

Our investment in Medicare is already having a massive impact in my electorate, which is home to one of the highest populations of aged pensioners in the country. We also have many young families and low-income earners who are reaping the benefits of a better, fairer and stronger health system that the Albanese Labor government promised and that we are delivering.

Jo Briskey (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There is no greater symbol of the Australian fair go than your green and gold Medicare card. It's a promise that, in Australia, when you get sick, you'll get help. Today I rise to outline the work of the Albanese Labor government, a government that hasn't just talked about the promise; we've put the investment behind it to make it a reality once again.

When we first took office in 2022, and when we were returned to government by the Australian people in 2025, we inherited a primary health system on life support. Let's be blunt about why. For six long years, the coalition chose to freeze Medicare rebates. They chose zero indexation. They chose zero support for GPs. The rising cost of doctor's visits wasn't an accident; it was a direct result of those opposite and the decision they made to starve Medicare. So it's been interesting to hear the contributions of those opposite and the manufactured outrage over Medicare in this motion, given their past performance.

On 1 January this year, this Labor government continued to turn the page. As the calendar turned to 2026, a suite of landmark Medicare initiatives moved from promise to reality. These weren't mere administrative tweaks at the margins; they represent a fundamental shift in the standard of care and a statement to the recommitment that we are making to a truly universal healthcare system, the core to who we are as Australians.

It started at the pharmacy counter, where we've slashed the PBS copayment for general patients to just $25, the lowest price that we've seen for essential medicines in over 20 years. For a family sitting around the kitchen table, balancing the mortgage and the grocery bills, this isn't just policy change; it's breathing space.

We didn't just stop at the chemist. We've ensured that when your child gets sick at 2 am—we've all been there—you are not left in the dark, due to the launch of 1800MEDICARE, a 24-hour direct helpline where you can get high-quality health advice that eases peace of mind and that is delivered right there at the end of the phone line.

Recognising the modern challenges our nation faces, we have opened a new digital front door to care. The Medicare Mental Health Check In is now live, providing immediate free access to health self-help tools and support. We are meeting Australians where they are—online, on their phones and in their moments of need—and removing the barriers to seeking help. This is the Labor way. We don't just protect the Medicare of the 1980s; we build the Medicare of the future.

Perhaps most importantly, we are restoring the heart of our healthcare system by bringing back universal bulk-billing. We were told the decline was terminal, but we've proven that when you value doctors, doctors can value their patients. By tripling the bulk-billing incentive and extending it just last November to every single Medicare card presentation, we have made it financially viable to be a bulk-billing doctor again.

We see the success in the heartbeat of my own community. Look at the Moonee Ponds Super Clinic. They are part of a wave of over 3,300 practices nationwide that are now fully bulk-billing. Look at the Gladstone Park Family Medical Centre. These are clinics staffed by professionals who have a deep and fundamental understanding of our community's needs. They know that, when a local family can access care without the stress of a gap fee, the whole community is healthier, more productive and more secure. Because of our 12½ per cent bonus for exclusively bulk-billing practices, clinics like these in my electorate are thriving. They are the frontline of a stronger Medicare. They are among the thousand practices that have recently indicated they are transitioning to 100 per cent bulk-billing—that's a thousand more doors open to families who were previously worried about the cost of a check-up.

Medicare was created by Labor and protected by Labor, and today it's being strengthened by Labor. We've invested $8.5 billion to reverse the decline that was seen under those opposite, and we've seen 6.5 million extra bulk-billed visits. These aren't just statistics. These are parents who can afford to get to the chemist. These are seniors who aren't afraid of the GP bill. The coalition froze Medicare; we have funded it. They broke the system; we are fixing it. This is what it looks like when a government puts the health of the nation first. I commend the motion.

Marion Scrymgour (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There being no further speakers, the debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.