Tania Lawrence (Hasluck, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I, together with the member for Moreton, am currently wearing a continuous glucose monitor because he, as chair of the Parliamentary Friends for the Prevention of Diabetes—or 'enemies of diabetes', perhaps, is more accurate—together with Diabetes Australia reckon it's a good idea for politicians to actually understand what people with diabetes have to live with, and they're right. I'm proud that, in July 2022, this government provided all 130,000 Australians with type 1 diabetes access to subsidised continuous glucose monitoring, such as the one I'm wearing on my arm today.

Labor will go to the election next year with good news to tell in the health portfolio, and central to that is the way in which we have begun the long task of strengthening Medicare after years of coalition neglect. The coalition were forever lukewarm at best on Medicare—when they were not actively undermining it, that is. The Australian people remind them from time to time that they better not mess with it. Medicare remains a beloved legacy program based on the premise that your access to primary health care shouldn't depend on the size of your wallet.

Labor introduced Medibank in 1974 and was met with vehement opposition from the conservative parties. Just how much opposition? Well, a double dissolution and joint sitting's worth of opposition. Nevertheless, it got through. Then, after 1975, the scheme was white-anted and then abolished by the Fraser government. In 1984, Medicare was introduced—again with opposition from the conservatives.

Over the years, we have seen coalition leaders like Howard and Abbott talk about getting rid of Medicare, then recanting when they see it's too popular and then pretending to be Medicare's best friend. 'We won't get rid of any Medicare locals,' said Tony Abbott in opposition in 2013. All 61 were scrapped as soon as he came to office. The coalition doesn't oppose universal health care directly anymore, because they understand the electorate won't stand for that. Instead, they just let it run down. Once it has run down enough, they'll try to point to it as a failed system. It's the old coalition privatisation playbook.

The people of Hasluck voted for Medicare at the last election. They voted for a Medicare urgent care clinic in Midland, and now one has been delivered and is operating extended hours at North Street Medical Centre, located close to the town centre of Midland. People needing care for themselves or their children can attend and have the whole of their urgent treatment bulk-billed. The government promised 50 Medicare urgent care clinics at the last election, and we've already delivered 58. In this year's budget, we have committed to creating another 29, with $227 million of funding to bring the total number to 87. Australians are appreciative of this new service, with over 400,000 presentations to urgent care clinics already. More than 25 per cent of those presentations were children under 15 years of age, and more than a third were outside of regular hours. Half of them say that they would otherwise have presented to the emergency department at the hospital.

I am also pushing for a second urgent care clinic to be established in Hasluck. Ellenbrook township is the centre of what is possibly the fastest growing urban corridor in the country, and it remains underserviced in many ways. There is no hospital based there yet, and there is a great need for more and more varied health provision. An urgent care clinic will bridge the gap for many of our local residents.

Last year's budget included a $3.5 billion investment to triple the bulk-billing incentive to benefit more than 11 million Australians. As a result, the GP bulk-billing rate has risen by 2.1 per cent in the first five months of that policy. This translates to an extra 950,000 visits to the doctor. We can add to this—cheaper medicines, by virtue of the caps on scripts and the transition to 60-day scripts for many chronic conditions. The coalition were advised to allow 60-day scripts back in 2018, but they squibbed it, meaning that millions of Australians have paid too much for far too long, waiting for a government that cared enough to see that job done.

These policies underpinning the health of the Medicare system, making medicines cheaper and increasing bulk-billing rates are obviously good for people's hip pockets too. At a time when cost of living is an issue, the government actions in the health portfolio serve to act as a brake on inflation and to help out with the family budget. Labor's investments in Medicare are good for the health of Hasluck and good for the country at large. I thank the member for Macarthur for this motion, recognising his unrelenting advocacy for Medicare and across the gamut of the health portfolio. Anyone wearing this or with any other condition can trust that Labor has their back and their health in mind.

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