Steve Georganas (Adelaide, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'm proud today to be speaking on another commitment that the Albanese Labor government is delivering, and that is to establish the 56 Medicare urgent care clinics across Australia, with a total investment of $493.5 million over five years. It's a bit much to hear members on the other side criticising this particular policy, especially when you have a look at their record in government for 10 years, where we saw bulk-billing decline continuously. The public, hospitals and doctors were screaming out about bulk-billing, and they sat there and did nothing. So it's a bit much listening to those on the other side criticising something that will add to our primary health care and is really needed. Primary care is in the worst shape it has been in for 40 years, with no action from the previous government in the last 10 years. What we saw under the previous government was 10 years of continuous cuts and neglect. As I said, bulk-billing rates were in decline, and only 14 per cent of medical graduates now go into general practice.

Medicare urgent care clinics are just one way that this government is trying to help in strengthening Medicare and making it easier for Australians to receive the care that they need and deserve when they need it. All of these clinics will be bulk-billed and will be open seven days a week for extended hours. This means that more families will get top-quality care from a nurse or a doctor without having to wait in a hospital emergency department. We see the waiting lists around the country in hospital emergency departments, and that is because people can't afford the gap that they have to pay when they go to a doctor, so they front up to an emergency department, or they can't get in to see a doctor because we don't have enough of them. This will ease the pressure a bit and take those people who aren't real emergency cases to these urgent clinics. This also means that, through the establishment of these clinics, we'll see a little bit of easing of the pressure on our hospitals.

There are currently 16 urgent care clinics open nationally, with more opening in the coming few weeks and months. I'm very proud to say that in South Australia—my home state and yours, Deputy Speaker Sharkie—we're thrilled to be receiving five Medicare urgent care clinics around different areas, and one is proposed in the city of Adelaide in my electorate. It will service the inner suburbs surrounding the CBD, and it'll take a great big burden off GPs and the emergency department. Primary Health Networks across the country are working hard to finalise the commissioning process for the urgent care clinics, while also ensuring that they are integrated—it's very important that they be integrated—with local hospital and health systems and meet the needs of the local communities.

There's no doubt that hospitals and emergency departments across the country are under pressure. I don't think there's a single hospital in any major city that isn't under pressure. Since coming to government, we've made it a priority and a commitment to strengthen Medicare and reduce the pressure on our hospitals so they can provide the quality care that Australians deserve, and this is one way of easing that pressure. These Medicare urgent care clinics will save thousands of stressful, expensive and ultimately unnecessary trips to hospitals and emergency departments. You can't blame people for going to the emergency department given the state that our health system is in at the moment. When you've got a bad flu and a temperature and you can't get in to see a doctor because the waiting times could be two or three weeks and you need that care there and then, or when you can't afford the gap—many people just cannot afford the gap—the next choice is turning up to the emergency department. So freeing it up and reducing pressure will allow the emergency departments in our hospitals to focus on higher-urgency and life-threatening conditions.

Again, I'll speak about the 10 years of cuts and neglect of Medicare by the former government. It has never been harder to see a doctor, and when you do you're often paying a gap fee that is higher than ever before in the Medicare era. It's not without any noise. For years previously, as I said, doctors, hospitals and health professionals were all screaming about— (Time expired)

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