Corinne Mulholland (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support the Health Legislation Amendment (Improved Medicare Integrity and Other Measures) Bill 2025. Medicare and our Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme are the cornerstones of Australia's world-class health system. Indeed, they are the envy of the world, and they light the way for what a fairer, more decent health system can look like. That's why the Albanese government has committed to making the single largest investment in Medicare in this nation's history: an injection of $8.5 billion. That record funding for Medicare and the PBS is an example of this government living its values: a belief in a universal healthcare system.

This massive funding injection will increase the number of bulk-billed doctor visits every year. It will fund more doctors and nurses to care for our growing and ageing population. Our investment will also reduce the out-of-pocket cost for Australian families—something that skyrocketed under the former coalition government. In fact, Labor's record funding for Medicare will mean nine out of 10 GP visits will be bulk-billed by 2030.

We have also committed to delivering 50 additional urgent care clinics across the country. Already 1.2 million Australians have been treated at over 87 urgent care clinics nationwide—over a million patients! In my home state of Queensland, there are 10 additional urgent care clinics being delivered under this government. These are fully bulk-billed walk-in GP clinics that are free to attend. In Queensland, our urgent care clinics have already treated hundreds of thousands of sick patients.

Last month I visited one of our busiest urgent care clinics in Morayfield in the federal seat of Longman. While I was in the urgent care clinic, the clinic was busy treating little kids, elderly patients and workers seeking treatment. These are the patients who would otherwise be forced to find a pay-for-service GP appointment or wait a long time for a bulk-billed appointment at another clinic. Every one of those patients arriving at the Morayfield urgent care clinic came with just their Medicare card, and they were entitled to world-class care from a community GP in their local area. Earlier this year I travelled to the seat of Groom and visited our urgent care clinic in Toowoomba. The Toowoomba urgent care clinic has delivered over 6000 bulk-billed GP appointments to Toowoomba locals. With a shortage of GPs and bulk-billed appointments in regional Queensland thanks to a decade of inaction by those opposite, the urgent care clinic is turning around that tide.

We have worked hard as a Labor government to reverse a decade of underfunding by those opposite, but wait, there is more. In addition to Labor's urgent care clinics Labor has committed over $255 million for 31 new Medicare mental health clinics. From 1 July, just earlier this month, a number of those new Medicare mental health clinic services commenced across Queensland. We now have Medicare mental health clinics funded by this Labor government operating in locations including Caboolture, the Sunshine Coast, Redcliffe, Bardon, Rockhampton, Townsville, Redlands, Strathpine, Logan and many more. These are locations where patients can get much-needed walk-in mental health appointments, taking pressure off our hospital system, which particularly right now is under a lot of pressure in Queensland, as we can see in the local newspapers. I look forward to joining the assistant minister in the near future to officially open some of these bulk-billed Medicare mental health clinics, and in doing so we can get the word out about these great new clinics.

This side of the chamber know the job is never done, and we are always fighting to secure the future of our world-class health system as we continue to improve it. Labor will always fight to protect its future, a commitment we took to the last election. When Labor came to government in 2022 it had never been harder or more expensive to find a doctor in Australia. Bulk-billing rates were in freefall after a decade of coalition cuts and neglect to Medicare. Australians chose to elect the party that created Medicare, Labor, to stand up and defend our health system. In November 2021, six months before the 2022 election, the financial viability of general practice was in serious trouble after the coalition's six-year freeze on Medicare rebates. Labor has delivered the two largest increases to Medicare rebates in 30 years. We have increased Medicare rebates by more in just two years than the former government did in nine long years. As a result of this record investment, bulk-billing has started to rise again for every state and territory, delivering an additional six million free visits to the GP in just 12 months.

We must always fight against attacks on Medicare from those opposite, who believe access to Medicare should depend on your credit card, not your Medicare card, and that is a commitment that Labor took to the Australian people—that we would always stand up and protect Medicare and the PBS from ideological attacks from those opposite, who seek to get their hands on it and rip away vital funding from our health system. But also, just as importantly, we must protect Medicare and the PBS from bad actors who would—and some do—seek to defraud our health system and take advantage of vulnerable patients. Part of that is continually enhancing and modernising Medicare and protecting it from those bad actors to ensure Australia remains among the healthiest countries in the world. The amendments in this bill will help protect the integrity and the ongoing sustainability of Australia's health benefits scheme, including the MBS, the PBS and the CDBS. This bill strengthens the powers of Medicare to investigate incorrect billing and fraud in the system. Medicare costs, as we know, billions of dollars annually, and we know that fraudulent behaviours, incorrect billing and overpayments are a drain on public money and reduce the funding available for those patients who need it the most. This bill also introduces tougher penalties for those making fraudulent Medicare claims, which take vital funding away from much-needed primary care in our local communities. Stronger integrity measures like those in this bill create a more level playing field for all users, which makes our record funding go even further.

It also ensures that we are focusing on patient care and the right appointment and the right service in the right location for the right patient, not the other way around—having appointments or claims driving care. Where patients are having their appointments cut short or are required to come back for a new chargeable appointment when they are already there receiving care, this comes at an additional expense for taxpayers and at a cost in time for both the patient and the practitioner. The Independent Review of Medicare Integrity and Compliance, undertaken by Dr Pradeep Philip—the Philip review—specifically referred to the need to ensure patient safety in all aspects of health services. This must include a review of billing practices to ensure ease of visitation for patients, to keep health care affordable, to reduce duplication of appointments and to cut down on wait times for families.

But, in saying this, I want to be very clear: the measures introduced in this bill today will, importantly, directly impact upon only a small percentage of practitioners and businesses—those engaged in noncompliance and fraud. Australians know that the overwhelming majority of our doctors and other healthcare professionals are decent, honest and hardworking and comply with the Medicare rules and guidelines. This system protects those practitioners doing the right thing and takes action against those doing the wrong thing. Overall, patients and practitioners can expect to benefit from better protected health schemes that will provide more secure access to safe, quality services closer to home. This bill focuses on incentivising the good behaviour amongst our hardworking medical practitioners and cracking down on the bad behaviour. Improving patient integrity, deterring misconduct and reducing fraudulent claims is critical to ensuring that Australia can afford Medicare. Strengthening Medicare also means safeguarding the taxpayer funds that underpin it, and this government is committed to that task. I support the important amendments in this bill to detect, respond to and investigate instances of misconduct, fraud and noncompliance, because it's Australian families that are paying the price for the misuses and abuses of our system

But, as Labor people, we know that the job is never done and we must always fight to protect and secure Medicare's future and to continue to improve it. As a new mum, I have been so proud of the reforms delivered by Labor to deliver incentives to increase bulk billing rates for children. When you are holding a sick child in your arms, the last thing you need to be thinking about is whether you can afford for your child to get the treatment they need. I am so proud that bulk-billing rates have increased for children under Labor. We know that getting care closer to home with a trusted medical professional leads to better health outcomes for our littlest people. We know that Medicare ensures that, no matter where you live, how much you earn or what's happening in your wallet, you and your loved ones can get the care you need under Labor, and Labor will always fight to strengthen Medicare.