Josh Burns (Macnamara, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I've got an interjection from the honourable member for Fisher about how that's working for us. It is working so well, Member for Fisher. If you go to the urgent care clinic next to the Alfred in my electorate, you will see people utilising that service and the hardworking nurses and doctors treating the people of my community with the best possible medical care our country has to offer. They are right across from the Alfred if they need it, and they can get further access to the public health care they need. It is a system that is not only making a difference to families and people who need to access a GP clinic but making a difference to people who are working in emergency departments; they are under huge strain and huge stress. We've got an emergency physician amongst our ranks in the member for Robertson. He understands how difficult it is and how many pressures there are on our emergency departments, and the urgent care clinics, including the one we set up in my electorate next to the Alfred hospital, do an outstanding job. If those opposite want to shut down the urgent care clinics, just like they tried to make every single Australian pay to see a doctor, then that's something they should be honest about.

We know that those opposite have said, and the Leader of the Opposition said on Insiders over the weekend, that they are going to cut the Public Service and they are going to cut hundreds of billions of dollars. We know what that means. Last time it meant indexation on university places; we know that Joe Hockey came into this place and tried to introduce constant indexation on university places. We know it meant a complete gutting of services. We know those opposite, under the then health minister, the Leader of the Opposition, tried to put a GP tax on every time you went to the doctor. That has not been our approach. Labor believes in Medicare and making sure we increase access to Medicare services around the country. We know how difficult it is for GP clinics around the country and for GPs. It is a really important profession. I have family members who have been GPs for decades; they do an outstanding job servicing our community. We could not be prouder of our GPs, but we know it is getting harder to be a GP in Australia. That is why our policy is around ensuring each and every Australian can have access to Medicare services and get access to the outstanding medical professionals we have here in Australia.

But that's not the only thing we have delivered in my electorate, in the healthcare space, in the first term. I was absolutely delighted to walk into our brand-new headspace in South Melbourne, which is there to support young people who need access to that vital mental health care. You only have to talk to the staff who work in that South Melbourne clinic to know that the young people who will come in for free and access those services, just like those urgent care services, will be able to access outstanding mental health support services for whatever they are going through. In Dorcas Street in South Melbourne, we have such an amazing array of different communities. South Melbourne is such an incredibly beautiful and diverse part of Melbourne. But we know mental health doesn't discriminate between those who have a lot of resources and those who don't, and this service and this clinic will be there to support the community.

I'm proud of our urgent care clinic. I'm proud it supports the Alfred hospital, which does outstanding work. And I'm proud of our South Melbourne headspace, which is going to support the mental health of our young Macnamara people.

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