Pat Conroy (Shortland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The seat of Shortland is suffering a GP crisis because of the cuts by this awful government, which include cuts to the GP after-hours service and reclassification as an area of no longer having a GP shortage. What a disgrace! One hundred and forty-nine GP practices in our area are unable to get doctors. Last week, Brooke from Warners Bay told me that it's taking her seven weeks to get an appointment to see her GP. I spoke to a paramedic from Speers Point last week who said that paramedics are under even more pressure because patients can't get in to see their GPs. Swansea General Practice has a clinical room completely empty every day of the week because they can't get doctors. And what's the response from this hopeless government? The minister for regional health has said that Hunter has plenty of medical services. What a joke! And the Liberal's patron senator for Shortland has a secret plan to close GPs and send people to the public hospital. This is the truth.

The Liberals don't care about Medicare. They don't care about solving the GP crisis in Shortland. Only Labor has a plan. Labor's plan is to restore the funding to the GP after-hours service and reclassify our area as an area of GP shortage. Only Labor cares about health outcomes for Shortland. Those on the other side hate the people of Shortland and don't care about the doctors.