Renee Coffey (Griffith, Australian Labor Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

Across Griffith, people want health care they can rely on close to home and within the family budget. They want cheaper scripts, easier access to a GP and confidence that their Medicare card has their back. That is why the Albanese Labor government is proudly strengthening Medicare and making health care more affordable. Since 1 July 2022, Griffith residents have saved more than $18.2 million on more than 2.1 million cheaper scripts. That is real money back in the pockets of local families, pensioners and workers. We're also seeing bulk-billing improve locally. In Griffith, bulk-billing rates increased from 58.7 per cent in October 2025 to 63.5 per cent in March 2026. As of 3 June 2026, eight practices that were previously mixed billing are now fully bulk-billing.

Our urgent care clinics are also making a real difference, and in the last couple of weeks I visited two of them with our health minister. Across Griffith, they have seen more than 43,000 presentations, including 3,700 at Coorparoo, 5,400 at Carina and a staggering 34,000 at South Brisbane. These clinics are bulk-billed, walk-in and open for people who need urgent care but do not need the emergency department. Ashley from my community recently said she'd visited the clinic at Carina twice this year. She said she was so impressed by the service and she's always happy to pay for a GP, but these after-hour clinics are always so helpful.