Zaneta Mascarenhas (Swan, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This is a bit of a love letter to Medicare. I note that this month is the 40th anniversary of Medicare. There have been some positive times for Medicare and some really challenging times. I'm a kid of the eighties, and I don't really know a world without Medicare, but there was a time when we didn't have Medicare in Australia. During that time, it was really challenging for Australians to have access to health care. Back in the seventies, three out of five families did not have access to private health insurance, because they simply could not afford it. There was no such thing as bulk-billing, because there was no Medicare, so it was hard for Australians to get access to affordable health care. If people wanted to go to the doctor, they had to pay for the visit in full. When they couldn't afford it, they simply did not go. I just can't imagine that world.

But the Hawke Labor government believed in the concept of universal health care. In just 10 months after Hawke's remarkable election victory, Medicare was in place—just 10 months. Prime Minister Hawke said that Medicare was cheaper, simpler and fairer. He said that Medicare would mean that nine out of 10 Australians would pay less for their health needs. When it began, 92 per cent of the population signed up. As a kid of the eighties in Kambalda, the country town where I grew up, I wasn't very sick, so I didn't go to the doctors very often, but occasionally, once a year or so, I'd have a swollen eye, and I'd go to the nursing post. It was great that my parents felt confident and comfortable to access the health care that I needed and that there were not barriers in place.

An interesting thing I learned today from one of my doctor colleagues—we have multiple doctors within the Labor caucus—was that he started up his clinic on 1 February 1984, which was the beginning of Medicare. He did that because he believed in accessible health care. The reason why Dr Freelander went to medical school was that he wanted to make sure Australians had access to health care. When that policy changed, he happily set up a new clinic, which was super exciting.

In the electorate of Swan, I had the exciting opportunity of being invited to the Cannington Medical Centre, where I got to visit Cat Rippon and Madison Savage, who run an amazing clinic. There are 22 doctors and 12 nurses in this clinic, and they do so much work there. It's a super passionate team. They have a treatment room and radiology and are co-located with a dentist and a pharmacist. They do so much amazing work. Cat Rippon, who trained as a nurse, is so passionate about the Australian healthcare system that they made biscuits to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Medicare. I was dressed in gold and she was dressed in green, and we got to celebrate how amazing Medicare is.

I think it's also important to recognise and reflect that not everyone wanted Medicare. The Liberals have a long history of hating on Medicare. Howard was one of the original haters and described Medicare as one of the greatest failures of the Hawke government. I find that so bizarre. As opposition leader, John Howard said in 1987 that the government should have taken a knife to Medicare. Of course, when he did take over he froze the rates for Medicare payments to GPs, and that led to a massive decline in the number of GPs offering bulk-billed services.

But that's not all that happened. We had Abbott, who wanted to introduce co-payments, and we had Turnbull, who wanted to privatise the payment system of Medicare and who set up the Medicare privatisation taskforce. I know that we're going over old blood, but, as Bob Hawke said, 'Everybody knows you don't set up a Medicare privatisation taskforce unless you aim to privatise Medicare.' The truth is that Medicare is a really important part of what it means to be Australian. When people choose to call Australia their home, they do it for multiple reasons, but I see it as about having a better future, with access to good health care, a good education system and secure work, and these are all things that federal Labor fundamentally believes in.

The centrepiece of our May 2022 budget was the doubling of the GP rebate, because we wanted to make sure that general practices, which are at the forefront of our medical system, were functioning. Between October and December we saw an additional 360,000 bulk-billed visits, and in my electorate of Swan there were an additional 1,500 bulk-billed appointments. This demonstrates that people who need health care are getting access to it. We've also seen the creation of Medicare urgent clinics. So far, 58 urgent healthcare clinics have opened across the country. I see that as an important part of making sure we have a well-functioning healthcare system.

When Medicare was launched, in 1984, there were around 2,300 items on the Medicare Benefits Schedule; today there are around 6,000. It's funny, because I feel like I have a Sliding Doors moment in my life. My dad's six brothers and sisters migrated to California. He was the only one who came to Australia. One of my cousins who's based in the US had a leaky heart valve. It wasn't something she had control over. She didn't contract this condition; she was born with it. When she was in her 20s she had emergency heart surgery. There's that moment when you ask: 'Holy cow, what is wrong with me? What do I need to do?' But there is also the question, 'Can I afford this health care?' She is now older and has to live with this condition. She does not have access to the same health care that other people have, because it's very expensive, and I feel really sad that they're the circumstances of the country that she has grown up in. But I know that if I was in the same circumstance, if I had been born with a leaky heart valve, the Australian Medicare system would look after me.

I am really grateful that we have this amazing universal healthcare system, but I also remember having debates with some of my American friends, who were, like, 'What is this healthcare system?!' From their perspective they saw it as a form of communism, but in my mind it's just about humanity. It's about humanity and about us looking after other humans. So I would say that Medicare is a really important part of Australia. It has changed the way that we look at health care in our system. I think that everyone having access universal health care makes us a better nation. Forty years later, Labor is continuing to work on strengthening the healthcare system.

I remember, four weeks after my daughter was born, my mum complaining about my dad because he was walking with a limp. She said, 'I'm annoyed at the way your father's walking,' and took him to the GP, who said that he needed to have a brain scan. He went and had a brain scan, and it turned out that dad had bleeding on the brain, which they hadn't realised. Dad ended up having emergency brain surgery the next day, and I remember the surgeon giving me a call and my asking, 'What are the risks of this brain surgery?' He was, like, 'There is a possibility that your dad might die,' and I was, like, 'Can I speak to him before you perform surgery on him?' Dad survived the operation, but I realised that if I had been in another country in that moment when he was dealing with these very full-on instances there would have been part of me asking: 'Can I afford this? What does this mean for my family? Do I need to mortgage the house? How long will I need to do this?' So I am grateful for the Medicare system, and I look forward to all sides of this chamber continuing to protect Medicare because it's Australia's jewel in the crown and something that should be strengthened and protected. Medicare rocks!

Karen Andrews (McPherson, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time for the grievance debate has expired. The debate is interrupted in accordance with standing order 192(b). The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.

Federation Chamber adjourned at 19:31