Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It's always a great pleasure to talk about Medicare and the importance of health. Getting health and other services into our area is something that I've been very passionate about, and this gives me a chance to remind the chamber of the last time we were in government, when we built superclinics throughout Australia. One of the great things about the superclinics was that they brought doctors together, brought allied services together and went into places where we had real issues in the medical workforce. Of course, the former government removed the District of Workforce Shortage classification from country areas, making it harder to attract doctors.

One thing I'm always reminded of with that opposition over there is the Wallan superclinic. It has been open since we built it in 2013, but technically it was never opened, because the leader and deputy leader of the Liberal Party, who were the health ministers at the time, didn't want to do an official opening. That was because they could then stand back and say Labor had never delivered their 22 superclinics. That was the pettiness we had under the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison mess. It's beyond belief that you wouldn't officially open something because you wanted to use it as a political opportunity. It talks about just what those opposite think of Medicare and of our medical profession.

As the member for Moreton rightly said, most of our doctors, nurses and health professionals are exemplary people and do absolutely amazing work. In the work I used to do with Ambulance Victoria I saw firsthand the ability of people to work in high-pressure, emergency and life-threatening situations. The care and compassion they showed was second to none. But, of course, we had 10 years when Medicare was attacked. There was an attempt to turn it into a profit-driven exercise through a GP tax by what the Australian Medical Association referred to as 'the worst health minister in living memory'. He is, of course, now the Leader of the Opposition. That leopard ain't changing its spots. We know that those opposite have no interest in protecting Medicare as an opportunity where it's your Medicare card that gets you service, not your credit card, as they don't think you'd value that service. They don't think Australians value Medicare if it's free. It's a slightly bizarre concept, but that's what you get with those sitting in the modern Liberal Party these days.

There was a time when, as the member for Moreton said, Medicare was a bipartisan issue, where people worked together and actually did that. But the change we've seen in the Liberal Party, which has pushed itself further and further to the knuckle draggers on the right, has meant that they've taken that away. That's why we see so many of these small-l liberal seats now occupied by Independents, because those Liberal members who would support free health care and unified health care and who have a social conscience have been pushed aside. It's a terrible thing we see happening. That's why it's important that we keep a government that actually cares about Medicare and cares about our doctors.

One of the first things we did when we got into government was address the workforce shortages after we had a committee, chaired by my friend and former colleague Peta Murphy, on the shortage of doctors in outer suburban and regional areas. We found that, for some stupid reason, those opposite wanted to treat areas like Wallan and Whittlesea the same as Brighton and Elsternwick. We still have that issue today of the hangover where we can't get doctors out. We're working closely with the states and with our local providers to actually get more doctors into our region. You should be able to see a doctor when and where you need to, and we should see more work being available for nurse practitioners. We should be able to see that, no matter where you are, you can get access to quality health care in your area when you need that service.

As the member for Moreton said, there are a lot of new businesses these days that have started up. They're big companies that run medical practitioners and that actually do work doctors to the bone, and I don't think they treat them fairly. We see that happening in areas such as Mernda, where nearly every single practice is now owned by one company, and then they remove bulk-billing. That makes it hard for people who are doing it tough. And, of course, as anyone that's had kids knows, kids don't fall sick between nine and five. It's usually three in the morning when it's freezing cold and it's all a problem, and you've got to then travel for miles to try and find access to a medical professional. That's part of the reason those superclinic programs were so successful.

This year, as we head to the election, we'll be fighting very hard to get an urgent care clinic into the seat of McEwen. We know the importance of that. Through the redistribution, we've now lost our only hospital in that seat. It's now gone into Nicholls, so make sure you look after it, mate. It's a good hospital with great people, and they've done great service for years. But we need to get those services into those growing areas, throughout the northern suburbs, through Kalkallo and all the way up to Wallan, to be able to have services available. There are areas in the north-east of the electorate, like Diamond Creek and out that way, that also have difficulty getting access to doctors and health care. It's one of the most important things that we do, and the protection of Medicare is something that Australians value because Medicare means that we all get the opportunity to go and see a doctor or a nurse practitioner, who do great work, when we need to.

But we've got to make sure we've got governments that back that in. The importance of having governments back that in means that we will get things like our superclinics and the change of the Monash medical rating done. In one town in McEwen, if you live at No. 82 and set up a practice, you're MM 2. If you go in at No. 84, you're on MM 3. It's a bizarre set-up. It's one small, little town, but a street divides the different ratings. I know that the health minister has been working diligently on this and I understand that it's not as simple an issue as just moving a line. I know that for each one of those towns there are probably hundreds of them around the country as well.

The other thing that's important about this bill is around moving in relation to tobacco and vapes, in particular, and the issues there. The bill also changes the timeframe during which Medicare claims for bulk-billed services may be made. The minister will keep discretion on how that service works. It's also important to note that what this is about is strengthening the integrity of Medicare and making sure that wherever you are, you will get access to doctors. You will get access to healthcare professionals. It's so important that this bill passes the House in a hasty manner.

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