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

My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Health and Ageing, Senator McAllister. Strengthening public health care to deliver real cost-of-living relief is a key priority for the Albanese Labor government. How is the government delivering on our promise to strengthen Medicare and improve access to bulk-billing so that more Australians can access the care they need?

Jenny McAllister (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme) Share this | Link to 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.

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

Senator Whiteaker, first supplementary?

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

They are some pretty impressive numbers; thank you, Minister. When you're sick, the last thing you should worry about is how much a visit to the GP would cost. How has the Albanese Labor government made it easier for Australians to see a GP, and why has the government taken this approach?

Jenny McAllister (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme) Share this | Link to 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.

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

Senator Whiteaker, second supplementary?

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

Minister, I think the Australian people agree with you, because last year they voted a government that would stand up for the principle of universal health care. How is the Albanese government delivering to ensure that, no matter where they live, Australians have access to health care, and what are the risks that that investment face?

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

The Albanese government's investments in bulk-billing are not just reflected in the raw numbers of new fully bulk-billed practices; 96 per cent of Australians are now within a 20-minute drive of a registered Medicare bulk-billing practice. We, on this side, are for universal health care. What about the record of those opposite? When they were in government, they cut hundreds of millions of dollars from health in the 2014 budget. It was nearly half a billion dollars. Senator Ruston said at the time:

Everybody would like to think that we could go on in life with universal health care, with universal education and with all these wonderful things that over the last 20 years Australians have come to accept as a given. Unfortunately, the credit card is maxed out.

That was their message—public health was not a priority for government. Our message is a very different message. Our message is that you deserve access to health care no matter how much you make or where you live.