Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I just want to talk about a couple of colours—green and gold. They're our national colours. They're worn by the Wallabies and the Matildas. They're worn with pride because they symbolise who we are as a nation: our belief in freedom, respect, fairness, equality of opportunity and mateship—looking after one another. That's why it's very appropriate that those green and gold colours are the colours of another national icon, our Medicare card.

Each one of us in this chamber, whether on the floor or in the gallery, or people who might be listening across this great country or watching on television—every single one of us carries one of these, and we know what it stands for. This little card represents the freedom to access high-quality health care when we need it, without fear of crippling costs. It embodies the respect and dignity afforded to us at our most vulnerable moments. It enshrines the principle of fairness—that all of us, regardless of wealth, postcode or background, are entitled to the same essential care. Above all, it speaks to the equality of opportunity to access health care, because a sick child in regional New South Wales—the great state that I represent—deserves the same chance as an Australian child in the city.

We must never forget, however, how hard-won this little green and gold card was. Before Gough Whitlam introduced the first version of Medicare, called Medibank, in 1975, the No. 1 cause for personal bankruptcy in Australia was medical debt. For a moment, just imagine being forced to choose between life-saving treatment and putting a roof over your kids' head or putting food on the table. Parents were driven into crushing debt to save their children's lives. People sold their homes to get medical treatment, and, when it failed, that left families in debt, homeless and in deep grief. It wasn't good enough for us, as Australians, so Prime Minister Whitlam, a Labor prime minister, found a better way, enrolling 90 per cent of Australians into public health insurance.

Those on the opposite side can run from the truth, but they can't undo their history. It was Malcolm Fraser's government that dismantled and privatised Medibank. It took another Labor government under Bob Hawke to restore it—this time in that name that we now all recognise, with the green and gold lettered Medicare card.

Since then, Medicare has been under constant threat from those opposite—the Liberal and National parties in coalition. When Tony Abbott, in 2013, brought down his first budget, he slashed tens of billions of dollars from the health budget. This was from Medicare and from hospital funding. He froze the bulk-billing rebate. It was, effectively, a punishing regime against our GPs and their businesses. And he just didn't care. He didn't want to uphold our belief in the green and gold values. The party that says it's all about business all the time knocked hundreds of GP surgeries around this country out of business. They couldn't help but muck around with Medicare. Time and time again, they've done it.

During that particular period of time, I chaired the health committee. We travelled the country, holding hearings in every state and territory. We saw that our values and respect for that green and gold were completely disappearing. We found people waiting longer in hospitals, we found people paying more for GP visits and we found people struggling to get the care that they deserved. That's why, in government, Labor has acted decisively to strengthen Medicare, and it's why we remain committed to doing even more in this term of parliament.

In 1975 Whitlam imagined a country where no-one would go broke to see a doctor. He was followed up in recovering that vision by Bob Hawke, who made it real. Labor governments have defended Medicare ever since, and it's Labor under Prime Minister Anthony Albanese that will protect your Medicare card, strengthen your Medicare access and give you a chance to get the bulk-billing that you need and deserve, because that is the vision for all Australians that began with Labor and will be reinstituted with Labor.

In our first term we tripled the bulk-billing incentive—it was frozen for years under the coalition—but we didn't stop there. That was the incentive to get the doctors to begin to bulk-bill again, particularly for children, the aged and people who just needed a bit of a hand. We reduced the cost of PBS medicines to just $7.70 for pensioners to get the medical attention they need and the ongoing medical care of proper medication. Importantly, we prioritised women's health for the first time, with a new network of 22 endometriosis and pelvic pain clinics, and we'll increase that to 33.

I want to acknowledge the great work of my colleague here in the chamber Senator Marielle Smith from South Australia for her leadership on matters medical, particularly for women, in the last period of time we were in government here, the period between 2022 and 2025—hard work so that we could get a plan to make sure Medicare works better for all Australians. That includes women, who are too often left out and cut out by the policy decisions of the Liberal and National parties. You can understand why. While there's a smattering of women here in the Senate, there's barely a woman for the Liberal and National parties in the House.

As duty senator for much of the country west of the Great Dividing Range in my great state of New South Wales, I've seen the damage that coalition cuts inflicted, but I've also seen the differences that Labor reforms are making. In Wagga Wagga and Bathurst and across this vast country there are 61 Medicare mental health centres that are coming into being, changing lives and bringing judgment-free, cost-free medical mental health care to the regions. I want to congratulate my good friend in the other place the minister for mental health and member for Dobell, Emma McBride, for her incredible policy leadership and for bringing that to bear. Going out and visiting those sites is giving me incredible confidence that people who need mental health care right across this country—region or city—can finally walk through the door when they need the care and get the care that they need.

There's also the roll-out of 87 urgent care centres. These clinics are easing pressure on emergency departments, and they're helping Australians get free, fast care where and when they need it. My good friend and colleague Dr Gordon Reid is the member for Robertson in the Terrigal-Erina-Gosford region of New South Wales where I happen to live. He got one of these urgent care centres established at Umina. People in the community that I live in, when they were coming to vote, were telling me how much this changed their access to a doctor. I know that where I live 18,908 of my fellow citizens have now been able to access the health care they needed, and all they had to do was show up with their Medicare card to get the care they needed. There were no urgent care centres when Labor came to government in 2022—zero, zip, none. We brought them into being, and it's affecting, in a very positive way, millions of lives across this country. Out in Farrer, the seat of the Leader of the Opposition, Sussan Ley, since that centre was opened, 11,054 people who live in and around the area of Albury have been able to go to an urgent care centre with that green and gold card, walk in and get the care they needed—because Australians believe they have a right to that and because this Labor government is determined to make that reality. We're on our way to rebuilding Medicare after the decimation of nine long years of the life being sucked out of Medicare under the Liberal and National parties.

Every taxpayer in this country wants us to make sure that every dollar we receive is spent really well. When you've lived life for a little while, you know that, apart from the amazing, wonderful people who do great work for us in every sector, particularly the health sector, there's always some shonky, greedy person who tries to rip us off. Labor cannot turn a blind eye to that. We have to stand up for the integrity of the system, and we need to make sure that your taxpayer dollars really work hard and that nobody rips off the system that we need to keep Australians healthy. That's why Minister Butler showed great leadership in 2022, commissioning Dr Pradeep Philip to create an independent review into the Medicare integrity and compliance structures. In response, we've established the Medicare Integrity Taskforce. That was a commitment we made in the 2023-24 budget. It probably wasn't on the front page of any newspaper, and you probably haven't heard about it, because some things aren't—can I say—sexy enough to go in the newspaper. But you want us to make the system works, and that is one of the things we have done. There's a lot of work the government does to maintain integrity. So, with funding provided then and more funding in this year's budget, we are enabling the taskforce to deliver the Philip review's recommendations.

The bill before us that I'm addressing today, the Health Legislation Amendment (Improved Medicare Integrity and Other Measures) Bill 2025, is a health bill to do the work that's been recommended by that taskforce and the review. What it does is close the loopholes, streamline enforcement and strengthen the investigatory powers to tackle fraud, especially in relation to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, which we often just call the PBS—all of us know what that means in Australia. A warning: if you are a fraudster or a rip-off merchant and you are trying to take money from your fellow Australians unethically and illegally, there's a cop on the beat now, and they'll be coming after you. We know you're a minority, but we're not going to leave you to continue to rip off your fellow Australians.

This bill aligns Medicare compliance powers across the system, and it makes it easier to conduct the kind of investigations that need to happen and to collect evidence in particularly serious criminal cases. Sadly, we have to do this because of the shonks, the dodgys, the rip-off merchants and the people who aren't of good faith in our nation. Let me be clear: these measures do target this minority—the small minority who abuse the system, whether by mistake or by deliberate deception.

The bill also improves the process for pharmacists under the National Health Act, it cuts red tape and enables faster essential access to medicines, and it aligns advertising restrictions for e-cigarettes across both the Therapeutic Goods Act and the Public Health (Tobacco and Other Products) Act 2023, following the government's recent vaping reforms. It's a really big and important clean-up and integrity measure. I do note and acknowledge that, in a spirit of bipartisanship, this bill is going to be supported by those opposite. I'm glad. Maybe they've seen the error of their ways. Maybe they'll stick with Labor going forward in providing proper health care to Australians—fair, equitable and decent access to the care we need. It's great that they're voting for this bill today.

Medicare is not just a line item in a budget; it is a national green and gold treasure. It represents who we are and what we believe in. With this legislation, we honour that legacy, we strengthen that legacy and we say, clearly and proudly, 'The green and gold of Medicare is here to stay.' Under Labor, we will always protect it and enhance your access to healthcare, and I commend the bill to the house.