Josh Burns (Macnamara, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Health and Aged Care. What action is the Albanese Labor government taking to strengthen Medicare and make medicines cheaper? How does this compare to the past decade of cuts and neglect?

Mark Butler (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Macnamara for his question. He is a great local member and a fierce advocate for better healthcare services in his electorate in South Melbourne. He also understands the deep contrast between our record in just two years of strengthening Medicare and the sorry record of those opposite over a decade of cuts and neglect, which all began with the Leader of the Opposition's horror health budget in 2014.

Nonetheless, the member for Macnamara asked me for a comparison. Well, we have put an additional $13 billion on the table to provide more support for our hardworking public hospitals. We know they're under pressure and we want to provide them with more help. By contrast, the Leader of the Opposition tried to cut $50 billion from public hospitals when he was the health minister.

On this side, we've tripled the bulk-billing incentive for GP visits, something the College of GPs called a 'game changer'. In the month of May alone that delivered an additional 900,000 free visits to the doctor. What did they do? The Leader of the Opposition tried to abolish bulk-billing altogether. He said there were too many free Medicare services—and you wonder why bulk-billing was in freefall when we came to government!

On this side, we've rolled out dozens of Medicare urgent care clinics. They are open seven days a week, extended hours, available to walk-in patients and, importantly, they are fully bulk-billed. The member for Macnamara and I recently visited one in his electorate, the South Melbourne urgent care clinic. It has already seen more than 16,000 patients, delivering terrific care and taking pressure off the ED at the Alfred Hospital across the road.

On that side, what new models of care did they deliver in nine years? Absolutely none. We have made medicines cheaper for pensioners, cheaper for concession cardholders, cheaper for general patients, already saving patients more than $400 million.

A few weeks ago, the member for Macnamara and I visited a terrific pharmacy, the Laird's Pharmacy at Elwood, and spoke to Elizabeth Foo there about her beautiful service. We also talked to her about our latest measure to make medicines cheaper, freezing the price of PBS scripts for up to five years. What did he do? He tried to make medicines more expensive by jacking up the price of scripts by up to $5. So I say, at the end of this parliamentary session, let's compare the pair: on this side, a hard-working government trying to strengthen Medicare; on that side, a Leader of the Opposition who has only ever tried to wreck it.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.