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

My question is to the Minister representing the Prime Minister, Senator Wong. A focus of the Albanese Labor government's first term was strengthening Medicare after a decade of neglect. How is the government delivering access to quality, affordable health care for even more Australians?

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Ananda-Rajah. We know you, in particular, are someone who understands the health system firsthand. You understand how important it is for the government to build an even stronger Medicare for Australians. While those opposite continue to focus on themselves and engage in multiple media interviews about themselves, we on this side are focused on delivering affordable, quality health care for Australians, making medicines cheaper for all Australians, record investments in bulk billing and, as we all know—and this is hard for them to hear—1 November, last Saturday, was the beginning of our Medicare bulk-billing practice incentive program, an $8.5 billion investment, the single-largest investment in Medicare since a Labor government established it 51 years ago.

What does the tripling of the bulk-billing incentive mean for all Australians? It means the introduction of an additional incentive payment for practices that bulk bill every patient. It means that nine in 10 GP visits will be bulk billed by the end of the decade and it means three times more practices across Australia will be fully bulk-billing practices, like the One Healthcare clinic in Woodside, which has declared already that, with the help of the incentive payment, it will move to a fully bulk-billed practice.

Already, around a thousand clinics have indicated they are moving to full bulk billing in the coming weeks, after having previously charged gap fees. That is a Labor government in action. The number is growing each day, in addition to the 1,600 clinics that already bulk bill 100 per cent of their patients. Six months ago, Australians voted for a government that would strengthen Medicare, and we are delivering on that commitment.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Ananda-Rajah, a first supplementary?

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

The Albanese Labor government opened 87 Medicare Urgent Care Clinics in its first term. These clinics have made a big difference in communities right across Australia, giving Australians access to care quicker and for free. How is the government continuing to deliver on its commitment to strengthen Medicare by establishing even more Medicare Urgent Care Clinics?

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

(—) (): Thank you Senator Ananda-Rajah for the supplementary. In October we passed a very important milestone. We saw Australians clock up two million visits to our Medicare Urgent Care Clinics across the country. As you said, we opened 87 in our first term, and we are on track in this term to open another 50. What it means for Australians is that those in need of urgent care that is not life-threatening can get help much more conveniently, much more quickly and for free. In my home state of South Australia, this is already making a difference. We are delivering on the new Labor member for Sturt's campaign commitment to open a Medicare Urgent Care Clinic in Adelaide's eastern suburbs. We are opening two more in Victor Harbor and in Whyalla. I am sure Senator Ruston will be very pleased about this, because that helps take pressure off local hospitals, and almost half of them— (Time expired)

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Ananda-Rajah, a second supplementary?

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

Clearly, strengthening Medicare by improving access to quality, affordable health care is a key focus of the Albanese Labor government. How will the government continue to strengthen Medicare and guard against efforts to undermine it?

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you for the question. We all know Medicare was hard-fought. We had to build it twice because the coalition in government destroyed the first effort to establish it. We all remember John Howard called bulk-billing a rort, Peter Dutton tried to end bulk-billing with a GP tax and Peter Dutton's successor as the health minister, now Leader of the Opposition, chose not only not to repair the damage but actually to make it worse, extending the Medicare rebate freeze—the only health minister in Medicare's history never to lift that rebate, not even once. And the result was predictable: bulk-billing in freefall and pressure on families kept rising.

For us on this side, universal health care is not negotiable. Medicare is for all Australians, and Labor will always fight for it. (Time expired)