Tony Sheldon (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Health Legislation Amendment (Improved Medicare Integrity and Other Measures) Bill 2025. This bill demonstrates yet again a clear truth in how most policies work in our country. The Liberals and Nationals, either intentionally or by their own incompetence, create a crisis, and Labor comes in to clean it up and clean their mess up. That's exactly what has happened with health care. Under the previous government, Medicare faced nearly a decade of neglect and deliberate undermining. Australians watched bulk-billing rates collapse, Medicare rebates remain frozen and our healthcare system stretched to the breaking point.

When we came to office in 2022, Australians found it harder and more expensive than ever to see a doctor. Families faced impossible choices between health care and essential bills. Hospitals across Australia felt the pressure of chronic underinvestment, starved by the Liberals' relentless cuts. $50 billion—remember that figure. $50 billion is what the Liberal and National coalition ripped out from public hospitals. Those cuts weren't just numbers on a spreadsheet; they had real, devastating consequences for Australians. It meant fewer nurses on the wards. It meant regional hospitals shutting down services. It meant cancer patients waiting longer for life-saving treatment. It meant emergency departments overflowing, parents waiting through the night with sick kids, and elderly Australians left in pain because there weren't enough staff or beds to help them. In some communities those cuts literally cost lives.

When you strip $50 billion from public hospitals, you are not just cutting dollars; you are cutting care, you are cutting staff, you are cutting hope for families who depend on the public health system. And it wasn't an accident. It was a deliberate ideological decision from a coalition government that has always hated Medicare. This was the coalition's legacy: cuts, neglect and disregard for Australians' fundamental healthcare needs. That's why Labor is reversing those cuts. Next year alone we are delivering an additional $1.8 billion in funding for public hospitals and health services. In 2025-26, the Commonwealth funding for state run hospitals will reach a record of $33.91 billion—year on year growth of 12 per cent. This isn't just restoring what was lost; it's building a stronger, fairer and more resilient hospital system for the future.

We came into office with a clear commitment to revive and strengthen Medicare, a commitment Australians decisively endorsed at the ballot box. We are delivering the single largest investment in Medicare since its creation more than 40 years ago. This $8.5 billion investment will deliver more bulk-billed GP visits, thousands more doctors, hundreds of nursing scholarships and significant improvements to patient care. For the first time, Labor is expanding bulk-billing incentives to all Australians, not just children or concession card holders, and creating a new incentive for practices that bulk-bill every patient. By 2030, nine out of every 10 GP visits will be bulk-billed and fully bulk-billed practices will triple nationwide to around 4,800.

Already our investment has delivered an additional six million bulk-billed GP visits in just over a year. This has also been recognised by healthcare professionals around the country. Associate Professor Magdalena Simonis from Victoria, from the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, acknowledged this investment earlier this year—contrary to what people say across the way, these are the facts. She said:

… this injection of funds into general practice makes good sense after such a long period of neglect from governments …

Dr Edwin Kruys from Queensland described this as a 'much-needed boost to general practice'. Dr Tim Senior, from the RACGP Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health faculty, said:

This is particularly welcome in … practices serving socioeconomically disadvantaged communities, where many people can't afford co-payments.

Labor values the healthcare professionals in this country and will be supporting their needs head on. We're funding Australia's largest ever GP training program—2,000 new GP trainees each year by 2028. Additionally, an extra 17,000 overseas trained doctors have joined our healthcare system over the past two years, more than at any other time in the last decade.

Then, of course, we've got our Medicare urgent care clinics. I had the opportunity to go out to Lindsay and to Penrith to visit one of the Medicare urgent care clinics and I spoke to a number of the patients and the parents bringing young children there. They were so delighted to see this opportunity, to make sure they get quick assistance to their families. At the election before last, Labor promised 50 Medicare urgent care clinics. Did we deliver 50? No, we delivered 87. Over 1.5 million Australians received urgent care through these clinics as a result of the overperformance of the outcome that we said we'd deliver—87 new clinics rather than the 50 originally projected. That has reduced pressure on emergency departments. They've filled a critical gap in our health system for parents, young children and elderly Australians who would otherwise spend hours waiting in a hospital emergency department. They're open seven days a week with extended hours, and they accept walk-ins. All you need is your Medicare card, not a credit card.

And it's not stopping there. The Albanese government is also making the biggest investment in mental health care that Australia has seen in decades—again, contrary to what those opposite want to say about mental health. We're investing $1 billion to make mental health care more accessible, more affordable and more tailored to the needs of Australians. This includes $225 million to build or upgrade 31 new Medicare mental health centres. Another $200 million will expand and strengthen headspace services for young people, because we know they are the front line of the mental health crisis. And $500 million will go to 20 youth specialist care centres to support young people with complex needs.

Mental health experts have welcomed this initiative, contrary to what those opposite would have you believe—the real experts, such as Patrick McGorry, one of Australia's leading psychiatrists, who called it a groundbreaking commitment that will fundamentally improve access to youth and mental health care. Carolyn Nikoloski, the CEO of Mental Health Australia, said, 'It will fundamentally increase access to free mental health support across the country.' Those are the facts and the important initiatives from those that know. That's what this investment is about—real care, where and when people need it.

Our government has significantly reduced medicine costs as well. Australians have already saved over a billion dollars because we delivered the largest price cuts in the history of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. Now PBS scripts will cost no more than $25, saving Australians over $200 million a year. Of course, we didn't stop there. We made around 300 medicines available on a 60-day prescription, saving patients even more by halving the number of pharmacy visits they need. And remember what those opposite did? They opposed these sorts of initiatives that made medicines cheaper for so many millions of Australians—those that are in need and all Australians that need to have their cost of living reduced. We also lowered the PBS safety net threshold, which means that families and pensioners reach cheaper medicines sooner. These are practical, immediate savings for households already under cost-of-living pressure.

That contrast with the coalition could not be clearer. Their record was to freeze Medicare rebates, cut $50 billion from hospitals, oppose cheaper medicines and consistently vote against measures making health care cheaper and more accessible. Even now, in opposition, they continue to oppose bulk-billing incentives, urgent care clinics and essential cost-of-living measures. Their own words highlight their intentions. Let's take a quick look down memory lane. In the seventies, you had prominent Liberal figures like Billy Snedden saying, 'We will fight this scheme continuously, and in the end we will defeat it.' In 1984, John Howard declared that he would stab Medicare in the guts. You don't even have to travel back that far. In 2015, Anne Ruston said that Medicare wasn't sustainable, and, earlier in 2014, she said that the credit card is maxed out on universal health care. That's their view. That's their consistent view. That's their opposition to Medicare. If it were up to them, the 'universal' would be stripped out of 'universal health care'. Let's not forget: Labor's investment restores every single dollar that the Australian Medical Association says was stripped from Medicare through the coalition's rebate freeze. We are rebuilding what those opposite tore down.

Labor understands that Medicare is fundamental to Australian identity. It represents the promise that health care is a right, not a privilege reserved only for those who can afford it. This bill continues Labor's mission to protect and strengthen Medicare. It shortens the timeframe for bulk-billing claims so that the system runs more smoothly and with greater integrity. It strengthens investigative powers so that, when serious fraud or noncompliance is suspected, we can act faster and more effectively. It streamlines the pharmacy approval process so communities can access essential medicines more quickly. And it reinforces our vaping and tobacco reforms, protecting young people from harmful and addictive products.

We know those reforms are working. The latest research from the Cancer Council's Generation Vape study shows that the number of young people aged 14 to 17 who vape is already in decline. We're investing over $350 million to crack down on the illegal tobacco trade, giving law enforcement the resources they need to fight back against criminal networks. It's another step in ensuring Medicare is stronger, more sustainable and more effective for generations to come, because Medicare is more than just a policy; it's part of who we are as Australians. It represents the simple, powerful belief that health care is a right, not a privilege. It means that, whether you live in a remote community or a capital city, or whether you are a pensioner, a patient or a student, you deserve affordable, high-quality care without going broke to pay for it—and that's what Labor has always stood for.

Let's be clear. This bill is about making Medicare stronger. It's about giving Australians confidence that when you need care, it will be there. It's about saying, once again, that this country will never go back to the days when you needed both a Medicare card and a credit card just to see your GP. I say this not just as a legislator but as someone who has seen firsthand what Medicare means for ordinary Australians. I met those parents in regional towns that told me that without bulk-billing— (Time expired)