Jenny McAllister (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Polley. No-one should have to check their bank balance to see if they can afford to go to the doctor. Health care should be accessible for everybody. It doesn't matter how much you make and it doesn't matter where you live. That is why, in our first term, the Albanese government delivered $3.5 billion in 2023, which restored access to bulk-billing for the 11 million patients that it covered. From 1 November 2025, Labor will deliver the largest ever investment in the history of Medicare—$8½ billion to expand bulk-billing to every Australian and to create an additional, new incentive payment for practices that bulk-bill every patient. Nine out of 10 GP visits will be bulk-billed by 2030, and fully bulk-billed practices will grow to around 4,800 nationally—that is triple the current number. That's what real cost-of-living relief looks like. We will also expand the availability of free, urgent health care by opening another 50 Medicare urgent care clinics. That's 14 new clinics in New South Wales, 12 in Victoria, 10 in Queensland, six in Western Australia, three in Tasmania, three in South Australia, one in the Northern Territory and one in the ACT.

When Labor came to government, we promised 50 urgent care clinics. How many did we deliver? Eighty-seven. Once all of these clinics are open, four out of five Australians will live within a 20-minute drive of an urgent care clinic. They're a game changer for families. One-third of patients are under the age of 15 and people won't have to pay a dollar to access these urgent care clinics. All you will need is your Medicare card. (Time expired)