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

The Albanese Labor government has wasted no time in getting Medicare back on track after a decade of cuts and neglect under the Liberals. Over their nearly 10 years in government, the Liberals destroyed the equitable access that was once the pride of our public healthcare system. They showed utter contempt for Medicare and the Australians who need it most. Slowly but surely the Liberals sought to systematically disassemble our public healthcare system and lock more and more people out.

The contrast between the Liberals and Labor on health care could not be starker. As then Liberal health minister, Peter Dutton tried to introduce a GP tax on working Australians every time they needed to see a doctor. The Liberals wanted to make it harder and more expensive for people to visit the doctor and get the health care they need. When Labor managed to block the changes, the Liberals simply froze the Medicare rebate for six long years and ripped billions of dollars out of general practice.

In contrast, the Albanese Labor government is tripling the bulk-billing incentive and making it easier for millions of Australians to get the medical attention that they need. That includes the 83,000 people in my electorate of Hawke. Starting from 1 November, this $3.5 billion investment represents the largest increase to the incentive in history. I know it will make a huge difference to my community.

People will also have access to higher quality care at their local clinics thanks to the federal government's Strengthening Medicare—General Practice Grants Program. I was delighted to recently visit the Grant Street Medical Centre in Bacchus Marsh. It's one of 28 clinics in my electorate to receive funding from the Labor government that will enhance digital health capability, upgrade infection prevention and control and help achieve and maintain accreditation.

When the Liberals were in government and the opposition leader was the health minister, they also cut $50 billion from our public hospitals, causing more crowding and longer wait times. Meanwhile, the Albanese Labor government is establishing 58 Medicare urgent-care clinics across the country to ease the pressure on busy emergency departments and reduce wait times for patients. These urgent-care clinics provide care for serious but non-life-threatening injuries and illnesses and are open from 8 am until 10 pm every single day. The Sunbury urgent-care clinic in our community has already seen thousands of patients receive the urgent care they need without waiting for an appointment or visiting an emergency department.

The Liberals didn't just make it harder to see a doctor; they also tried to make medicines more expensive by cutting $1.3 billion from the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme and forcing patients to pay $5 more for every single script. The Albanese Labor government is doing the exact opposite. We've already made medicines cheaper by reducing the general co-payment by $12.50 per script and are further reducing the cost by introducing 60-day dispensing for certain medications, which started in September and is rolling out over the coming months. Although this reform was recommended by the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee, an independent committee, back in 2018, the former Liberal government chose never to implement it, and this cost Australians billions of dollars. Now, thanks to the Albanese Labor government, patients whose medicine is available for 60-day dispensing will save $180 a year on each of those medicines, easing the significant financial burden that so many people with chronic health conditions face.

Labor built Medicare, which started almost 40 years ago under the Hawke government. Since then, the Liberals have sought to erode and undermine the system at every single opportunity. Now, led by a man once voted 'the worst health minister in 40 years' by the AMA—those left-wing bastions!—the Liberals are desperately attempting to undermine the measures that are successfully cleaning up their mess. Only Labor governments, like this one, can be trusted to deliver the changes and reforms required to ensure that Australians can affordably and more easily access the health care they need. We're investing in primary health, we're taking pressure off our hospitals and we're making it easier and cheaper to get the treatment and medicines that people in our communities need.

See this speech in context