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

I thank Senator Dowling for his question. In May, the Australian people voted for a government that would strengthen Medicare. The Albanese government is doing that through our program to roll out Medicare urgent care clinics right across Australia. When we came to government, we promised 50 urgent care clinics that would deliver bulk-billed care for urgent but non-life-threatening conditions. How many urgent care clinics has the government delivered so far? Colleagues, the answer is 90. It's 90 clinics, and I can inform this chamber that Australians have made more than two million visits to Labor's free Medicare urgent care clinics. The average number of visits to Medicare urgent care clinics has also risen to almost 26,000 per week nationally. We expect this number to grow. We expect it to grow as more clinics open.

Urgent care clinics are a game changer for families. One-third of patients are under the age of 15, and people don't pay a dollar to access these urgent care clinics. All they need is their Medicare card, not their credit card. These clinics are changing the way that people access health care. The Albanese government is expanding the availability of free, urgent health care by opening another 47 Medicare urgent care clinics. That is 14 new clinics in New South Wales, nine in Victoria, 10 in Queensland, six in Western Australia, three in South Australia, one in the Northern Territory, one in the ACT and three more in Tasmania, Senator Dowling. Once we open the full range of urgent care clinics, four out of five Australians will live within a 20-minute drive of an urgent care clinic. That is us delivering health care for Australians.