Jerome Laxale (Bennelong, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Health and Aged Care. What is the Albanese Labor government doing to lift bulk-billing rates? Why is the government so committed to protecting Medicare after a decade of cuts and neglect, and what threats are there to bulk-billing?

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

I thank the member for Bennelong and wish him a happy birthday. I'm sure there's no place he'd rather be than with 150 of his nearest and dearest friends on a day like this in question time! But the member has also been telling me how well received the new urgent care clinic at Ryde has been by his community. I went to my trusty friend for validation—Google review—which, again, is overflowing with similar comments. Visby said, 'Very convenient and accessible'. Jennifer said, 'The urgent care in Ryde is exceptional and a much-needed addition to the community.' I could go on. This clinic is not just providing top-quality urgent care in a timely and convenient way. The important thing for the community is it's fully bulk-billed. That's also important for Labor because, for Labor, bulk-billing has always been the beating heart of Medicare, but it's also always been hard fought not only initially with the doctors, when the AMA instructed their members not to bulk-bill, but consistently through the years from the Liberal Party.

John Howard called bulk-billing an absolute rort. The Leader of the Opposition, when he was health minister, said there were too many free Medicare services and then tried to abolish bulk-billing altogether. And that's the problem: 'throughout the years'. This is not a one-off Liberal Party thought bubble. It's a long, unbroken thread of ideological opposition to Medicare and to bulk-billing in particular. Most recently—

The deputy Liberal leader is interjecting, of course. Most recently—you just have to look at the deputy Liberal leader's comments this week. She said: 'It is a key Liberal Party principle. If you don't pay for something, you don't value it.' That's what she said, and maybe that's why the Leader of the Opposition tried to make every Australian pay a fee when they got rushed to the local emergency department: apparently, Australians won't value having their life saved when they're having a heart attack unless they hand a fee over to the Leader of the Opposition. Apparently, that's why they opposed bulk-billing as well: people don't value free access to a GP unless they get to pay a fee to the Leader of the Opposition.

We have a different view. The reason our healthcare system is consistently voted No. 1 in the world, especially for health equity, is our free public hospitals and bulk-billing in Medicare. Every Australian can access the best health care in the world just by bringing this beautiful little green card, confident they can keep their credit card at home. The Liberal Party might not value this, but most Australians value it, and I can tell you the Labor Party values it too.

Richard Marles (Corio, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

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