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

Thank you, Senator Whiteaker, for your advocacy for your own state and for public health. Thanks to the Albanese Labor government's historic investment in Medicare, the number of bulk-billing practices in this country gets bigger every week. The numbers from right across the country tell us exactly how effective the government's policy of strengthening bulk-billing really is. In just three months, we have seen the bulk-billing rate for all Australians rise to 81.4 per cent across the country. Aside from the pandemic, this is the largest quarterly jump in bulk-billing in 20 years. We have seen the largest quarterly increase in bulk-billing ever—6.9 per cent—for 16 to 64-year-olds, and we have seen the bulk-billing rate go up in every state and territory.

Western Australia—your home state, Senator Whiteaker—has gone from 117 practices to 214. That is 102 more fully bulk-billed practices. New South Wales has gone from 990 to more than 1,300—418 more fully bulk-billed practices. Senator Walsh, Victoria has gone from 624 to 967. That is 379 more fully bulk-billed practices. Queensland has gone from 375 to 618. That is 250 more practices that are fully bulk-billing. South Australia has gone from 88 to 190. That is 104 more fully bulk-billed practices. Tasmania has gone from 25 to 64, Senator Polley. In the ACT, there are eight more fully bulk-billed practices, and in the Northern Territory over 80 per cent of GP practices are now fully bulk-billing. The numbers do not lie.