Gordon Reid (Robertson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) acknowledges that the Government is building Australia's future by building a stronger Medicare with:

(a) free Medicare Urgent Care Clinics, so that you and your family have access to bulk billed health care when you need it;

(b) cheaper medicines, cutting the cost of prescriptions; and

(c) the largest investment in bulk billing in Medicare history, which is restoring bulk billing after ten years of cuts and neglect;

(2) expresses its concern at the Leader of the Opposition's record as Health Minister when he:

(a) tried to end bulk billing by making patients pay a tax every time they see a General Practitioner;

(b) cut $50 billion from public hospitals; and

(c) was voted worst Health Minister in the history of Medicare by Australian doctors; and

(3) further acknowledges only the Government can be trusted to protect and strengthen Medicare.

The Australian Labor Party established Medicare because we believe that you should not need a credit card to see your doctor in Australia and that all that you should need is your Medicare card. I'm proud to be part of a federal Labor government that, during this term, has invested significantly into strengthening Medicare for all Australians, particularly through the creation of our bulk-billed Medicare Urgent Care Clinics, which are helping Australians right across the nation to see a doctor for urgent but not life-threatening illnesses.

Across Australia, there are now 87 Medicare Urgent Care Clinics, one of which is in my electorate of Robertson. The Peninsula Medicare Urgent Care Clinic, located at 297 West Street, Umina Beach, opened to our community in November 2023. Since then, it has seen over 13,000 patients, all bulk-billed. These outstanding clinics are helping to take pressure off our hospital emergency departments and assisting Australians with the cost of living. My office has received some tremendous feedback from patients who have seen a doctor for free at our local Medicare urgent care clinics. For example, Claire, a young mum from the peninsula, wrote this email following her visit to our clinic. Claire wrote:

This morning, we woke to a nasty surprise on Abigail's back—a suspected spider bite had turned really nasty and infected.

We weren't able to get into our usual medical practice so presented to the new UCC in Umina.

Well it was smooth, efficient and so very professional.

The abscess needed draining and the Dr and Nurse who sore to her were just fantastic—this is a game changer for medical care on the peninsular, we're grateful this service was available to us.

Or Carmel, another young mum, from Narara who wrote this about the Peninsula Medicare Urgent Care Clinic:

The Umina Urgent Care Clinic is an invaluable resource for our community.

I recently took my nine-month-old daughter there when she was unwell, and the experience was incredibly smooth and stress free.

I was triaged quickly and seen by a doctor right away, which saved me from a trip to the Gosford Hospital Emergency Department.

The visit was also covered by Medicare, which was a huge relief.

The staff, including both nurses and doctors, were highly professional, providing excellent care for my daughter, offering reassurance, and giving clear options for any follow-up care if needed.

It is clear that our bulk-billed urgent care clinics are having a real impact in our communities and are helping people see a doctor quickly, but most importantly for free.

We continue to invest and strengthen Medicare in other areas of health care as well, like our historic tripling of the bulk-billing incentive which has increased the bulk-billing rate in Robertson to 75.4 per cent—that's an increase of 2.4 per cent, which equates to an extra 39,507 patients seeing a bulk-billing doctor. Further, our cheaper medicines legislation has helped our community save $8,786,696 via approximately 1,001,792 cheaper scripts, as well as our 60-day scripts that have saved just shy of $1 million in my community from 150,000 scripts. All of these initiatives are examples of the federal Labor government building Australia's future by stronger Medicare.

As an emergency department doctor and the federal member for Robertson, I could not be happier with the progress we have made so far, but there is more work to do. That is why I have launched a petition calling on the federal government to establish a second Medicare urgent care clinic in Robertson. I want to ensure that as many people as possible in our community on the Central Coast have access to a Medicare urgent care clinic. With federally funded Medicare urgent care clinics located in Lake Haven and in Umina Beach, the Central Coast desperately needs a clinic in the middle ring suburbs.

Over the coming weeks and months, my team and I will be taking our petition door-to-door to encourage as many people as possible to sign and support our campaign. To date, the petition has reached over 2,000 signatures and we aim to reach more. I look forward to updating the parliament on the outcome of this campaign because when it comes to strengthening Medicare, only the Australian Labor Party can be trusted to look after the health of Australians. This is in stark contrast to the Leader of the Opposition, who as health minister cut $50 billion from our public hospitals, tried to end bulk-billing by creating a GP tax and was voted the worst health minister in the history of Medicare by Australian doctors.

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