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

That is a very good question, Senator Whiteaker, and it's a simple answer. We are doing it because it works. We are building on the investments that we made in our last term for children and concession card holders. We tripled the incentives for GPs to bulk-bill children and concession card holders. Thanks to these changes, nine out of 10 visits for these patients are bulk-billed.

I want to compare that to the record under the coalition, because the number under the coalition was very different. The bulk-billing rate for children and concession card holders under those opposite was just 75.6 per cent. Their six-year freeze of the Medicare rebate ripped billions out of Medicare. The AMA estimated that the coalition would have taken $8.3 billion out of Medicare by 2027-28. We were never going to stand by and allow the coalition to demolish Medicare by neglect, and that is why we are enshrining access to universe health care for all Australians.