Dai Le (Fowler, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

Access to affordable medical care is one of the most important qualities that we have as Australians. Our general practitioners are at the forefront of this. They play a critical role, from early detection of diseases and intervention, to guiding patients and their families through difficult medical conversations, through a lifetime of immunisations and check-ups and management of the aging process. In my community in Fowler, the work of GPs is more challenging, with language and cultural needs, as well as cultural beliefs. Over 70,000 people in my community live with a long-term health condition, from stroke to diabetes, arthritis, asthma and cancer—to name just a few.

It is against the increasingly diverse needs in the community that many GPs find themselves working, and it's a particularly challenging job for many, as they are the primary caregiver to their patients and they're the gateway to other specialists, through their referral role. They take on a lot of responsibility for the professional diagnosis and treatment, and they are integral to the administrative processes that ensure continuity and follow-through in patient care.

Like many things in our society post COVID, the healthcare sector has faced, and continues to face, many challenges. The shortage of GPs, especially GPs who offer bulk-billing services, is a critical one. This is not merely an inconvenience. It is a symptom of a deeper malaise in our healthcare system—a shortage in the supply of GPs that is fast becoming a crisis.

I recently met with the CEO of the Minett Group of Companies, who represent numerous smaller GP practices. She informed me that, in the past year and a half, at least 30 GP practices have closed in the south-west Sydney area alone. Of the practices that remain, many are facing an aging profile of practitioners who are nearing retirement. This is not a temporary shortfall; it is a chronic and worsening shortage.

To address this, we must look at increasing the supply of qualified GPs, especially those incentivised to bulk-bill. While we take comfort in the rigorous process that produces highly qualified doctors, we must also acknowledge that there are qualified medical graduates among us, trained overseas, who are waiting for their qualifications to be recognised so that they can contribute and fill the gap that our health system is experiencing. Surely our Australian medical health system can find solutions to bring on these overseas trained and qualified doctors by assessing factors such as the costly exams, the requirement to spend 10 years living in rural regions or the supervision requirements that seem overly bureaucratic and onerous.

In my electorate of Fowler, with its high migrant and refugee population, there are doctors who could be serving our community's need for GPs. While I understand the necessity for English language proficiency and a review of the courses of study passed, surely we can streamline this process. These doctors are much more likely to seek to open practices and stay in communities where they, their families and their friends live.

Another means to increase the supply of GPs would be to review professional qualification process that awards specialism. The decline in medical graduates choosing general practice, from 65 per cent to just 12 per cent, is alarming. The four- to five-year additional training period required to specialise as a GP is the same time commitment as other specialisations that offer much higher remuneration. It is incumbent upon medical associations, with input from government, to reassess this process and align it with the healthcare needs across Australia.

The socioeconomic disadvantage prevalent in south-west Sydney makes the area less attractive for new GPs due to a preference for bulk-billing, exacerbated by the inadequate indexing of patient rebates. This indexing requires urgent review to ensure that areas with the poorest health outcomes can support more bulk-billing practices. South-west Sydney has and will experience great population growth in the coming years. This will require a significant increase not only in GPs but also in nurses, allied health professionals and specialists to support the multidisciplinary teams.

We need changes to incentivise existing GPs to bulk-bill patients. The current cost-of-living crisis, stagnating economy and wallet-emptying inflation overseen by this Labor government mean that many Australians will place food, clothing and fuel costs over their health. This is a false economy as delayed health checks lead to worse health outcomes and higher costs in the long term. I'm committed to engaging with the minister for health on these concerns and working towards a sustainable solution to ensure the health and wellbeing of our nation.

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