Louise Miller-Frost (Boothby, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Deputy Leader of the Opposition said, to paraphrase, that you only value things you pay for. But I have news for her and for the Liberal Party. Australians value Medicare. They value our health system, they value access to a GP, they value access to hospitals, particularly in an emergency, and they value access to affordable medicines through the PBS. Despite the challenges of our health system, it is without a doubt first class in terms of affordability and access, and definitely in terms of quality. You wouldn't want to be sick anywhere else in the world.

Labor is the party of Medicare. It was first introduced through Prime Minister Gough Whitlam's government as Medibank, then abolished by the subsequent Liberal government—as it would seem all Liberal governments do not value the public good of universal health care—then reintroduced as Medicare by the Hawke government. It is a fundamental part of the Australian way of life. It has improved the overall health of the country, has increased our life expectancy and has eliminated medical related bankruptcies.

But that hasn't stopped the Liberals and Nationals trying to undermine it. Who can forget when the now opposition leader, Peter Dutton, was health minister? He tried to introduce a GP copayment; when Labor blocked in the Senate, he froze Medicare rates to try to force GPs to stop bulk-billing. He cut $50 billion from public hospitals and $200 million from emergency departments. He tried to force the introduction of fees to attend a hospital emergency department. He tried to add $5 to every prescription, which would have meant a significant impost on many people who rely on multiple regular medications to manage their health conditions. In comparison, we have cut the price of prescriptions, frozen PBS prices and introduced 60-day prescriptions to further cut the cost to patients—moves he tried to block. He abolished Health Workforce Australia, which the AMA said would undermine capacity to ensure that Australia has the right number of doctors in the right places. Sure enough, that's exactly what happened. No wonder he was voted by doctors as the worst health minister ever. In comparison, we have tripled the bulk-billing incentive, which has resulted in a four per cent increase in bulk-billed consults across South Australia, including in my electorate of Boothby.

The government's 2024-25 budget provides $2.8 billion to continue to strengthen Medicare on top of the historic $6.1 billion investment in Medicare in the previous year. In 2023, we delivered the biggest indexation boost for Medicare in 30 years. This year, we delivered the second largest increase, with almost $900 million in additional funding for Medicare. This government has delivered more than double the amount of indexation to Medicare than the previous government did in almost a decade.

What a surprise! This has resulted in more junior doctors deciding to become GPs, up by 25 per cent. In the last two years, 17,846 new medical practitioners registered to practise in Australia. That is more than at any time in the last decade under those opposite. It turns out doctors want to work in the interesting and vital area of general practice if they can see it's financially sustainable.

One of the election commitments I was most pleased about at the last election, having worked in the health sector, was the announcement of 50 Medicare urgent care clinics across Australia, including one in Marion in my electorate. Since then, they have been such a raging success that we've opened 77 Medicare urgent care clinics. The Marion urgent care clinic has been open for just over a year now and has had more than 12,000 patients through its doors. Those are 12,000 people who were too sick or too injured to wait for their normal GP but not bad enough to go to an emergency department, people who instead got seen at the urgent care clinic instead of presenting to the hospital ED.

You would think that this amazing success story making a direct benefit to the health of Australians would be something we could agree on in a bipartisan matter. But no—the shadow Treasurer has made it very clear that, if a Dutton government is elected next year, the urgent care clinics are on the chopping block. They are making a deliberate decision to force Australians to choose between turning up to overcrowded emergency departments, making wait times even worse, and waiting to get an appointment with a GP even if they are injured on the weekend.

Labor is the party of Medicare. We know how important this is to the Australian way of life. You can't risk a Dutton led government with the health system led by the man voted worst health minister ever.

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