Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

The healthcare system has been in crisis due to a decade of neglect by the previous government. Under the Liberal-National government, we saw bulk-billing rates fall dramatically, the Medicare rebate frozen for a number of years and emergency department waiting times skyrocket at hospitals across the country.

During the last election campaign, Labor announced our plan to take pressure off the healthcare system and to rebuild Medicare. An important part of that plan was to build Medicare urgent care clinics in communities throughout the country. The care clinics will take pressure off hospital emergency departments by providing Australians with urgent medical care when they need it without having to go to an emergency department. In my electorate of Kingsford Smith, we promised an urgent care clinic in the lead-up to the last election. I'm happy to say that we have delivered. Labor has delivered better health care in our community with the opening of a Medicare urgent care clinic on 19 July.

I had the honour of joining with medical specialists in our community to open that clinic. The great thing about this clinic is that it's open from 8 am to 8 pm, and you don't need to make an appointment. All you need is your Medicare card, because all of the services are bulk billed. The opening of this vitally important healthcare service will take much-needed pressure off the Prince of Wales Hospital Emergency Department and the Sydney Children's Hospital Emergency Department. We know that a third of all presentations at hospital emergency departments are for non-urgent matters, and people wait six or seven hours to be seen. Well, not at the Maroubra Medicare Urgent Care Clinic—you're in and out in 45 minutes. Some of the hardworking doctors and nurses at the Prince of Wales Hospital can now concentrate on emergencies and lifesaving care rather than non-urgent matters.

I want to point out that, when we opened this and promoted it on Facebook, this was the feedback we got from resident Kutana, who said:

It's such a wonderful service and the staff are incredible.

That's the voice of our community about this Medicare urgent care clinic.

We're not just delivering them in my electorate of Kingsford Smith. We've funded 58 clinics throughout the country, and 14 are in New South Wales, and they are progressively being rolled out. It's part of Labor's commitment to rebuild Medicare and to ensure that we have better healthcare services for all in our community. It will also take pressure off the cost of living, because we saw bulk-billing rates falling under the previous government and people being forced to pay to see their doctor—not under this government. We're increasing the Medicare rebate and taking pressure off our hospital system. We're delivering Medicare urgent care clinics.

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