Madeleine King (Brand, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Because of our physical human frailties—and I can see that some of us in this place are human—we cannot take health for granted. When people are sick or infirm, they need support to ensure they live happy and productive lives. They need to be able to rely on a health system that puts patients first and is available to all Australians, regardless of income and regardless of their ability to pay. Medicare is the cornerstone of our health system and government should be investing in Medicare to ensure people have access to health care when and where they needed. Unfortunately, we have seen how this government has squeezed Medicare, ripped away its funding, frozen the indexation of rebates and tried again and again to introduce a GP tax.

Government Members:

Government members interjecting—

Madeleine King (Brand, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, they have. Labor opposes these attacks on Medicare and will always work to protect it, and Labor will always work to protect the penalty rates of health services workers who serve the Australian community around the country in the most difficult situations. In WA, I am very proud to say that Mark McGowan and Labor are putting patients first with a healthcare plan that puts patient outcomes front and centre on their health priorities. I am most pleased that my colleague Roger Cook, the member for Kwinana, in my electorate of Brand, is both deputy leader of WA Labor and shadow minister for health. He is a fantastic advocate for his great community of Kwinana, the place where I was born and which I now represent. Through freeing up hospital beds with medihotels and reducing pressures on hospital emergency departments with urgent care clinics, Labor in WA is working to better support patients and the health system. This is in stark contrast with Premier Barnett's failure to deliver a children's hospital, with lead in the water.