Matt Smith (Leichhardt, 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 making it easier for Australians to see a doctor when they need urgent care? Why did the government introduce this new model of care, and how does it compare to other policy approaches?

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

I know that the member for Leichhardt only got to Canberra this morning. He's been with his community over the last few days, helping them up in Cape York deal with the impacts of Cyclone Narelle.

I also know as a player of basketball in the US, he saw firsthand the punishing effects of a healthcare system like America's—bills for hundreds of thousands of dollars to treat serious basketball injuries. That's one of the reasons why he has been such a strong supporter of our stronger Medicare plan. It's delivering for his community in Leichhardt. More than 60 per cent of general practices today are bulk-billing 100 per cent of their patients. Almost 40,000 people have already gone through the Cairns south urgent care clinic since it opened in 2023. Indeed, the member can attest to the high-quality care there because he was bitten by a white-tail spider quite recently. I know he was especially proud and especially delighted last week to open the Medicare urgent care clinic in Cairns North that we promised at the last election.

There are now 134 Medicare urgent care clinics open after the Prime Minister opened the Coburg clinic in Melbourne over the weekend. Already, they've seen more than 2.7 million Australians, every single one of whom has been bulk-billed. But let's be clear, this is a Labor vision. This is a Labor program. The shadow Treasurer, now the opposition leader, a couple of years ago described it as 'wasteful spending'. Now, on his website, it says nothing about Medicare or health.

I thought I'd have a look at the third right-wing party's policies about this after Senator Hanson said earlier today that there's a heap of policy for Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party, you just have to go to their website. So I did go to their website, I clicked on 'Health' on onenation.org.au, and there are—one, two, three—four lines in their health policy! To their credit, they mention improving regional healthcare services by paying the HECS and HELP debt of recent graduate doctors. I'm pretty sure we're doing that, Minister for Education. There's not a single reference to Medicare, not a single reference to bulk-billing, not a single reference to urgent care clinics and not a single reference to cheaper medicines, which just goes to show that it doesn't matter which flavour you pick from this potpourri, the tutti-frutti of right-wing parties that is available in Australia right now, you won't hear anything about a stronger Medicare.