Ellie Whiteaker (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Last week I visited the Health Hub at Eaton Fair. It's the home to the Bunbury urgent care clinic and a GP clinic that has recently converted to a fully bulk-billing practice under our incentive to encourage more GPs right across the country to convert to bulk-billing. This is part of Labor's record investment in Medicare. The Eaton urgent care and GP clinic is leading the way in providing accessible, affordable health care in WA's south-west, easing pressure on Bunbury Regional Hospital and giving families and community members the opportunity to access health care for free, as it should be.

I want to thank Dr Craig Hookham, Cahleen Hookham and the team for welcoming me so warmly to the clinic last week and for showing that good, affordable health care in our regions is possible. Dr Craig said to me when I was there that he believes that health care should be free, that it shouldn't be your credit card that determines the health care you get, and I couldn't agree with him more.

Labor have delivered the biggest investment in bulk-billing since we created Medicare. We've tripled the bulk-billing incentive and increased the Medicare rebate. I know the impact on families in Western Australia will be significant under these changes, but I want more GPs to take up our incentive and bulk-bill every patient, so I have begun a campaign in Perth's southern suburbs and the South West—in the electorates of Canning and Forrest—asking residents to tell me if they think their GP should bulk-bill. I will write to those GPs on their behalf and show that there is strong local demand for affordable health care right across WA.