Michelle Ananda-Rajah (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The opposition emoting and waxing lyrical about the cost of living is honestly a little bit rich. Why? I was here in the first term of this government, and I remember that they voted against every single cost-of-living measure that this Albanese government put forward to this parliament. It's a bit rich and disingenuous that they would stand here and profess to actually care about the Australian people. We're a government who understands that Australian families, households and businesses are under pressure. The cost of living was the dominant issue in our first term of government. Unfortunately, we are still dealing with an inflationary hangover. That is evident. We understand that millions of Australians will be disappointed with this interest rate rise, but we're a government that is not here to emote. We are here to actually do something about this and support Australians during this period.

What are we doing about that? There's a whole suite of measures that I can describe. Health care has been a big area of action, as has housing, after a decade of Liberal and National neglect—I was about to say coalition, but they're not that anymore. I don't know what they are. We're acting on the skills shortage, which was absolutely forgotten about after a decade of drift under the Liberals. Of course, we're acting on wages.

If we just take one area, health care—an area I can speak about; I have some experience in health care—we have, with $8½ billion, pumped in the biggest investment in Medicare's 42-year history. Medicare is a great Labor legacy. It was borne out of the Hawke government—incredible vision—and before that was Medibank. It was resisted all the way through by the Liberals. They thought that free health care was ridiculous, that no-one should have universal health care. That is not the vision that a Labor prime minister, Bob Hawke, had. With that $8½ billion, we are actually seeing green shoots of recovery in bulk-billing. Since this rolled out on 1 November, we've seen about 1,300 clinics take up bulk-billing. Imagine that: going to see your doctor, and you don't have to pull out your credit card, just show your Medicare card.

We've also rolled out 120 urgent care clinics which have now seen 2.2 million presentations. A third of those presentations are actually kids. These are clinics that are open from morning till evening, usually seven days a week, and they're staffed by local doctors. They're walk-in, you don't need an appointment, and they're bulk-billed. The tests or diagnostics that are ordered at these clinics are also bulk-billed. So, of course, families with children are flocking to these clinics. Imagine, on a Saturday, when you've got a footy injury or some other ailment—maybe it's a sick child running a high temperature or gastro—and you don't want to be queuing up for hours in the emergency department. You can go to your urgent care clinic. Victoria now has six of these clinics open, and there is another one that will be open in Stonnington East, in my old electorate of Higgins. These clinics have already seen a six per cent reduction in emergency department presentations in Victoria. That is how we take pressure off our public hospitals, by providing options for Australians in the community.

We rolled out cheaper meds. Cheaper medicines are now $25 per script as of 1 January. It hasn't been that low since 2004. That was the lowest that it was, and it's again $25 per script.

In addition to that, we are looking after those one in seven Australian women who have endometriosis, with 33 endometriosis and pelvic pain clinics that have been rolled out throughout the country. These clinics are providing lifesaving care to women who have been forgotten, unheard by the medical profession. Endometriosis is not a condition that I was ever trained on when I went through med school, but we have elevated it thanks to a near $1 billion investment in women's health by this Albanese Labor government.

In addition to that, we have a pretty comprehensive program on mental health supports. As of a few weeks ago, Medicare mental health check-ins started. This is worth googling. It's an online digital resource which is available when you need it and where you need it, and it's evidence based. We know that there is more to do. But we are not just talking about it; we are acting. (Time expired)