Sam Rae (Hawke, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) recognises that the Government continues to strengthen Medicare through delivering the important service of the planned 58 Medicare Urgent Care Clinics which will take pressure off our emergency departments; and

(2) notes that Medicare Urgent Care Clinics are designed to make it easier for Australian families to see a doctor or a nurse when they have an urgent, but not life threatening, need for care that is bulk billed.

The Albanese government are delivering on our promise to roll out 58 urgent care centres across Australia. It's true that seeing a GP isn't easy. Too often, people are left waiting, or they're unable to pay. It has never been harder to get an appointment or more expensive at the back end of it. The Albanese government is dealing with workforce shortages to address the root cause in a system that was left to languish over the Liberals' wasted decade defined by missed opportunities and degradation of our primary health care system because they weren't governing for all Australians; they were too busy governing for themselves. They've got no understanding of the people in my electorate of Hawke, and many others like it, and they don't care to know. Instead of investing in things that actually mattered to communities like mine, like our primary health care system, Medicare, child care, TAFE and so much more, they abandoned us when we needed a good government to step up and get things done.

My community won't forget how they were treated by those opposite. It doesn't take long to find examples—like robodebt, recently re-litigated through the royal commission, unveiling the scale and size of the disdain they hold for our communities. In Melton alone, the centre of my electorate, 3,598 people were victimised by this illegitimate and illegal debt-recovery robodebt program. That's more than 3,500 people in one part of my electorate who through no fault of their own were ruthlessly pursued by those opposite for debts they had not incurred. It was wrong and it can never happen again. That's just one example of the way that my community has been treated by those opposite.

So we have been given the task of helping Australia to recover. The Albanese government haven't wasted a day when it comes to our record on fixing the mistakes of those opposite. During the election campaign, we said we'd invest in our primary health care system. We said it was a priority. Our GPs and health workforce do amazing work across our communities. They're on the front lines and they're always there when we need them most. But it's no secret that our primary health system needs targeted and sustained investment to break the bottlenecks that are causing delays to care. I've heard from locals all across my electorate that we need a solution for when you don't need the lights and sirens but waiting for a GP appointment just isn't an option.

After almost 10 years of cuts and neglect by the former government, primary care is in the worst shape it has been in for 40 years—the worst shape it has been in in the history of Medicare. Bulk-billing rates have steadily declined, and only 14 per cent of medical graduates work in general practice, down from 50 per cent.

Delivering an urgent care centre for Sunbury was one of my top priorities as a candidate running for election, and I've worked really closely with Minister Butler as well as the state member for Sunbury, Josh Bull, to get this over the line. It opened up at the end of June and it's already making a huge difference for locals, with fully bulk-billed services and no need for an appointment, and with all services being provided by highly trained and qualified doctors and nurses.

We're doing what we said we'd do. We're rolling out 58 Medicare urgent care centres all across Australia, and we're kicking in almost $500 million to get this done. My Victorian colleagues are also seeing the benefits of this rollout in their electorates right across our state, whether it's in Ballarat, Dunkley, Corio, Jagajaga, Bruce, Macnamara, Lalor or Nicholls. Many members in this place, just like me, are now seeing the direct benefits flow on to their electorates and their communities because we have gotten on with the job of rolling out these important centres.

I've heard loud and clear from those in my electorate that this is already making a big difference. We've had 360 visits in the short period that the urgent care centre has been open. Whether it's for sprains, broken bones, cuts, wounds, insect bites, minor ear and eye problems, or minor burns they're putting in the work to deliver top-quality care for our community in Sunbury and, indeed, across Hawke. It's saving us time waiting in hospital emergency departments and in doing so it's taking pressure off those hospital emergency departments so that we don't end up with a tertiary healthcare system that is clogged with minor ailments at the emergency end of it. We're strengthening Medicare, we're making it easier for families to access quality care close to home and we're meeting the needs of the community in a time frame that is realistic and that ultimately ensures that we have the best possible health care for those who need it most.

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