Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Swan for her question and for hosting me regularly in her wonderful seat in Perth. She knows that making health care more affordable is one of the key elements of this government's plan. Making it more accessible is part of our plan for a better future. That's why we've rolled out 58 urgent care clinics right around the country. That's why there'll be more included in our budget coming up in May. That's why the centrepiece of our last budget was tripling our investment in bulk billing—the largest-ever increase in support for the Medicare system since Medicare was introduced.

The other element, of course, which the health minister has presided over, is the important reform of making medicines cheaper. First, we had a policy that we announced during the election campaign of a reduction from $42.50 down to $30 that came in on 1 January. Since then, that has resulted in savings of around about $300 million. But there's more, because our historic 60-day prescription policy has already saved Australians $12 million between September and January alone. Most importantly, it means fewer trips to the doc. It means fewer trips to the pharmacy. It means people can get the care they need with the regular prescriptions they need, be it for diabetes or heart conditions, so they can have that certainty of the availability of 60-day prescriptions. And, importantly, there is now broad support for 60-day prescriptions, including from community pharmacies. The only people who are still opposing 60-day prescriptions are those opposite, who say, 'We want people to go to the doctor twice as often, we want them to pay twice as much, and we want them to be so inconvenienced.'

We're supporting pharmacists as well to deliver more primary care services, which is something spoken about by those opposite but never delivered. What this is about is making sure that it's easier for Australians to get the care they need when they need it, taking action on cost of living on health care together with our tax cuts that come in on 1 July for every taxpayer, together with cheaper child care, together with the 300,000 fee-free TAFE places that commenced last year, together with our energy price relief plan that has had a positive impact—all of them opposed by those opposite, an opposition bereft of any ideas or any—

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