Louise Pratt (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

In taking note of answers to questions asked by coalition senators, there's a fair range of content given to us by senators opposite. In particular, there is not a clear critique of the government coming from those opposite, as is very clear in the context that the questions start with cost of living, and then one of the questions asked by those opposite is on inflation or on immigration, and so it goes on. We can highlight the fact that, as Senator Farrell outlined, we know that inflation in Australia—like in other OECD G7 countries—has been high but has peaked lower and later in Australia than in most G7 countries, so its moderation is a little behind. In the meantime, in order to abate the cost of living in Australia, we have a very clear and firm agenda which includes getting wages moving. It includes targeting relief in the health space. In particular, I had the great privilege of visiting an urgent Medicare clinic in Bunbury last Friday, which sees people able to access urgent after-hours and in-hours care when they otherwise would not be able to get access to a doctor. It's fair to say that they've already seen a great uptake of that service because people are able to get in, on demand, to see a GP for urgent care. This is highly relevant to the cost of living because the alternative was to wait weeks for an appointment to try and get in to see a doctor who may or may not bulk bill.

These kinds of incentives for urgent Medicare clinics, our bulk billing incentives and our relief on the cost of medicines, are really starting to make a difference in accessing quality health care at an affordable cost. This is more and more important, given the evidence that we saw mounting of people forgoing, under the last government, access to necessary health care because of its high cost. There's no other way, really, to mitigate or address access to health care, given the disparate incomes of Australians—whether you are on social security, or on a low or high income—other than to get into the nuts and bolts of reforming our healthcare system in order to make it affordable and accessible. This means, when you're affected by the higher cost of fuel, which clearly relates to a great many international pressures which have indeed impacted on the cost of transport for households but also the costs of fruit, vegetables and other goods and services, we can mitigate household costs by targeting areas where we know we can make the most difference to the people that need it. This means we've been able to start to radically reduce health costs and indeed, in doing, also reform the health system. This means we've been able to take pressure, for example, off emergency departments, who are also experiencing increased pressures due, in part, to how unaffordable it became to see a doctor at short notice.