Melissa Price (Durack, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Health Insurance (Pathology) (Fees) (Repeal) Bill 2024 removes the fees imposed on the pathology sector for pathology applications. The bill responds to the findings of the 2022 health portfolio charging review by addressing the misalignment of fees charged under the Health Insurance (Pathology) (Fees) Act 1991 with the charging framework and providing fee relief and reducing administrative burden on the pathology sector. The bill will maintain a high level of confidence in the accuracy of Medicare-eligible pathology services by continuing to require service providers to meet requisite accreditation and quality-assurance standards. Importantly, the bill has the support of Australia's pathology sector, having been welcomed by stakeholders such as the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia, Australian Pathology and Public Pathology Australia. As such, the coalition will support this bill. We understand the importance of providing fee relief to the pathology sector and providing assistance to health providers, who are also dealing with Labor's cost-of-living crisis.

Pathology is an important part of the health system, but, as we all know from experience, you generally require a referral from a doctor to get a pathology test. That is why the coalition, while supportive of this bill, is calling out the Albanese government for the fact that it has never been harder or more expensive to see a doctor than right now under Labor. Labor promised to strengthen Medicare, but it has only been weakened. Bulk-billing has dropped 11 per cent under the Albanese government to 77 per cent, whilst out-of-pocket costs have increased by 11 per cent in the past year alone. To put this into perspective: when the coalition left office, the bulk-billing rate was 88 per cent. When Peter Dutton, the Leader of the Opposition, was health minister, it was 84 per cent. In fact, Medicare is currently covering the lowest percentage of GP fees on record. On average, Australians are being forced to cover 45 per cent more of the cost to see a doctor—that's if you can see one—from their own pocket, in comparison to under the former coalition government.

Even more concerningly, the total number of GP visits declined by 2.4 million in the period 2023-24 because Australians are having to make the difficult decision between paying the bills and seeing their doctor. This means people quite simply are getting sicker and ending up in our already-overstretched hospitals. These figures make a mockery of Labor's claims regarding a proposed decade of cuts and neglect. The government is not providing the reform needed to ensure Australians have timely and affordable access to a doctor, which will in turn only put further pressure on Australia's struggling hospital system as this primary care crisis pushes patients towards emergency departments. This is shameless.

The coalition has put forward our plan to incentivise more junior doctors to pursue a career as a general practitioner and safeguard Australians' healthcare access. The package will invest $400 million to provide junior doctors with direct financial incentive payments, assistance with leave entitlements and support for pre-vocational training. This will ensure that junior doctors who pursue training as a GP in the community are not financially worse off compared to doctors who remain in the hospital environment.

A strong pipeline of home-trained GP graduates is critical to deliver essential health care to all Australians. And might I say, as a regional and remote MP, nowhere is it more needed than in the parts of Australia that I represent. It will help to ensure that Australians have more timely and affordable access to see their doctor, so that they can access essential services like pathology tests. So, once again, the coalition will support this bill to provide fee relief to the pathology sector. However, I will be moving an amendment to highlight this government's concerning record on Medicare. Thank you.

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