Mark Butler (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the terrific member for Solomon for his question and for trumpeting the benefits of the Palmerston Medicare urgent care clinic, which opened earlier this month. I was delighted to read the front page of that unique Australian daily, the NT News. There was not a crocodile to be seen on that front page. It was filled with the headline 'Clinics ease wait pains', under 'Bulk-billing options for urgent care'. A little bit later I was with the member for Lingiari, celebrating the announcement that congress would operate the urgent care clinic in Alice Springs, at the Northside clinic, which will make a real difference to that community as well.

The Palmerston clinic is one of 30 clinics now operating seven days a week right through Australia, with extended hours allowing patients who need urgent care for non-life-threatening emergencies to walk in. Already, those 30 have delivered tens of thousands of services.

One in three of those services has been delivered to kids under the age of 15. They are taken there by their parents when they fall off a skateboard, fall off a swing or get a deep cut, instead of having to go to the local hospital emergency department. One in three of the services has been delivered on weekends, when we know it is so hard to get a GP nowadays, and, of the weekday services, one in five has been delivered after 6 pm. Again, we all know how hard it is to get a GP after hours. This is already making it easier to see a doctor when and where you need to in the community. Importantly, right across the country, it is taking pressure off our hospital emergency departments including for the Palmerston Regional Hospital in the member for Solomon's electorate.

Most importantly, perhaps, these services—every single one of them—are fully bulk-billed. They are free of charge because, for this side of the parliament, for the Labor Party, bulk-billing is the beating heart of Medicare. We know it has been in decline over the last several years after a six-year Medicare rebate freeze initiated by the Leader of the Opposition. That is why the centrepiece of our budget this year was the biggest ever investment in bulk-billing, tripling the bulk-billing incentive, which comes into effect in less than two weeks time. For a general practice in Palmerston, an MM2 area, that will mean the income to a doctor for a standard level B GP consultation, the bread and butter of general practice, will go up by almost a half, making it so much easier for pensioners, for kids under the age of 16 and for concession card holders to see a doctor when they need to, completely free of charge. We are committed to doing the hard work, working for Australians to strengthen Medicare.

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