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

It is interesting to hear coalition senators try and rewrite their own history in relation to Medicare, because the truth—and I think the Australian public know this—is that, when we came to government in 2022, it had never been harder or more expensive to find a doctor, bulk-billing was in freefall and it was after a decade of cuts and neglect. It is why we came to government determined to strengthen Medicare. In the first term of parliament, we delivered more doctors, more bulk-billing and cheaper medicines. We opened 87 Medicare urgent care clinics. The truth is that Labor established Medicare and it is only Labor that can be relied upon to protect it.

That, of course, provides context for the bill that's before the chamber at the moment, but the Health Insurance (Pathology) (Fees) (Repeal) Bill 2025 is rather more specific than many of the contributions in what has been a wide-ranging debate. I thank senators for their contributions. The bill before us relates to the fees imposed on the pathology sector for certain categories of pathology applications. This bill will reform the pathology charging arrangements applying to those categories. The Health Insurance Act 1973 requires Medicare-eligible pathology services to be rendered by or on behalf of an approved pathology practitioner in an accredited pathology laboratory operated by an approved pathology authority. Under these arrangements, a practitioner is required to sign an undertaking to the minister that they will comply with the requirements of the legislation and certain administrative arrangements and pay an acceptance fee to become an approved practitioner. The proprietary laboratory must sign an undertaking and pay an acceptance fee to become an approved authority, and a laboratory premises may be approved as an accredited laboratory by the minister after an application has been submitted with relevant supporting documentation and the accreditation fee has been paid. The accreditation requirements impose obligations on approved practitioners, accredited laboratories and approved authorities to undertake to meet or to demonstrate compliance with quality-assurance standards for pathology services provided under Medicare.

The Health Insurance (Pathology) (Fees) Act 1991 specifies the fees which must be paid for the acceptance and approval of approved practitioner, approved authority and accredited laboratory applications. The approval of these applications allows the providers of pathology services to be identified in the Services Australia billing system as approved providers of Medicare-eligible services. The current pathology charging arrangements were reviewed as part of the 2022 Health portfolio charging review, which identified that these arrangements do not align with the Australian government's charging framework. Removing the fees applied to the three categories of applications through the repeal of the pathology fees act will resolve this misalignment with the charging framework. It will also provide the pathology sector with fee relief and a reduced administrative burden; however, it will preserve the high level of confidence in the accuracy of Medicare-eligible pathology services by retaining administrative requirements, including accreditation obligations.

I thank senators for their contributions to the debate.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.