Mary Doyle (Aston, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) acknowledges:

(a) the Government is strengthening Medicare and delivering cost of living relief to Australians; and

(b) that the Government's record investments in bulk billing have stopped the free-fall in bulk billing rates, with Australians accessing an estimated 5.4 million additional bulk billed visits in the past 12 months;

(2) notes:

(a) that Australians have saved more than $1 billion on cheaper medicines, as a result of the largest price reduction in the 75-year history of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS), the introduction of 60-day prescriptions, and the lowering of the PBS safety-net threshold; and

(b) the continued expansion of the Medicare Urgent Care Clinic network, with almost 80 clinics opened which have seen almost 900,000 bulk-billed presentations;

(3) welcomes the influx of new doctors entering the workforce, with one new doctor joining the Australian health system every hour on average over the past year, and the number of junior doctors electing to take up general practice training increasing by more than 25 per cent;

(4) expresses its concern at the track record of the Leader of the Opposition, who during his term as Minister for Health:

(a) tried to introduce a tax on visits to GPs;

(b) froze Medicare rebates;

(c) cut $50 billion from our hospitals;

(d) said there were 'too many free Medicare services';

(e) was voted by Australia's doctors as the worst health minister in the history of Medicare; and

(f) as a result, cannot be trusted with Medicare; and

(5) further acknowledges that only the Government can be trusted to protect and strengthen Medicare.

When I found a lump in my breast in late 1995 at the age of 25, I went straight to my local bulk-billing GP that morning, and she gave me a referral for a mammogram and ultrasound the following week. I was so grateful to have Medicare to help pay for these tests and to be able to see my GP on the same day I found the lump. I was a casual call centre worker, living in a share house at that time, so I didn't have much money to spare. When the test confirmed the lump as suspicious, I was booked in to see a breast specialist, where she conducted a fine-needle aspiration, and the next day I found out that lump was cancer. The following week, I went to hospital for a lumpectomy and lymph node removal. If I had lived in a country that didn't have universal health care like our Medicare, I'd be in a very bad way financially. The financial burden in some countries without universal health care can cause much worse outcomes too. That is why strengthening Medicare is so important to me and is something I support wholeheartedly for all Australians.

Labor is the party of Medicare. It is in our DNA, and strengthening it is our top priority. At the last federal election, we said that there was no higher priority for Labor in the health portfolio than strengthening Medicare and rebuilding general practice. On the other hand, when the current opposition leader was the health minister, he put a six-year freeze on Medicare rebates, which then prompted the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners to take the extraordinary step of calling on GPs across the country to stop bulk billing in order to maintain the viability of general practice. Again, at the time of the last election, the Hon. Mark Butler said that general practice was in the 'most parlous state in the 40-year history of Medicare'.

Bulk billing was falling off a cliff because of the former health minister and now current opposition leader Peter Dutton's six-year freeze on Medicare rebates. This is precisely why the Albanese Labor government invested in—

Cameron Caldwell (Fadden, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Point of order! Members should be called by their correct title.

Mary Doyle (Aston, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm terribly sorry. The Hon. Peter Dutton, the now current opposition leader—I think I did call him by his correct title. This is precisely why the Albanese Labor government invested in Medicare by tripling the bulk-billing incentive from 1 November last year in the largest investment in bulk-billing history. In this year's budget, the Albanese Labor government provided $2.8 billion to continue to strengthen Medicare. This is in addition to the historic $6.1 billion investment in Medicare in the 2023-24 budget.

Another fantastic investment in health care our government has achieved are the Medicare urgent care clinics. We have opened 77 clinics across Australia and that figure includes 19 of the 29 clinics announced in this year's budgets. These clinics make an enormous difference for patients and ease the pressure on busy hospital emergency departments. They operate fully bulk billed, are open seven days a week, with extended hours and accept walk-in patients—no appointment necessary.

There have been almost 860,000 visits to these clinics across Australia, and they've all been completely bulk billed. In my electorate of Aston, there have been over 2,400 visits to the one in Bayswater since it began operating as an urgent care clinic in September this year. We know the opposition have never supported these clinics, because they have never supported Medicare. The Hon. Angus Taylor has made it clear that these Medicare Urgent Care Clinics—

Jenny Ware (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Point of order! Can you—

Mary Doyle (Aston, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Angus Taylor, the shadow Treasurer, has made it clear these Medicare urgent care clinics are on the chopping block, and they will close. If elected, they will cut these urgent care clinics, just as the opposition leader, when he was the health minister, cut funding from Australia's health system by implementing a six-year freeze on Medicare rebates.

Labor went to the 2022 election promising Australians that we would make medicines cheaper and we're delivering on that promise. We've also introduced 60-day prescriptions for around 300 common medicines, meaning that many millions of Australians with a stable ongoing health condition are saving time and money.

Our government made medicines cheaper. The former health minister now Leader of the Opposition, the Hon. Peter Dutton, tried to add $5 to every script, voted against cheaper medicines and tried to block 60-day perceptions. The fact is, those opposite and especially the former health minister and current opposition leader, Peter Dutton, cannot be trusted with Medicare.

Australians understand that ours is a government that is committed to strengthening Medicare, and that's precisely what we have delivered since we were elected.

Marion Scrymgour (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded?

Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

Jenny Ware (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I was here for the motion brought by the member for Aston and to hear her speech, which I found quite incredible on a number of levels. I know the member for Aston is a relatively new member, but it's always interesting, unfortunately, when members stand up and simply read out party talking points. It doesn't make for a great speech, particularly when quite a bit of it was disingenuous.

I move, first of all, to the first part of this motion that's been brought by the member for Aston. It says: 'The government is strengthening Medicare and delivering cost-of-living relief to Australians. It includes a record investment in bulk-billing.' That has not occurred in the seat of Hughes.

Of the 25 practices in my electorate with comparable data between 2019 and 2024—this is coming from the Parliamentary Library; it's not coming from party talking points—only four now continue to be bulk-bill only. That change has been since this Albanese Labor government came in saying, 'There's nothing more important than Medicare.' That change has occurred in the 2½ years since this government has been in. Three of the practices that were previously bulk-billing have moved to mixed billing. This means that, generally, only children and pensioners are bulk-billed. Ten practices have continued to offer mixed billing, three have moved from mixed billing to fees applying for all services, three have remained simply as 'fees applied' and one previously listed as 'other' is now described as mixed billing.

We have had a massive decline in bulk-billing in the electorate of Hughes, and I have written to the Minister for Health and Aged Care about this. I invite him to come down and meet with these bulk-billing practices, because the GPs in my electorate of Hughes are furious on behalf of their patients.

It's a shame that the member for Aston hasn't stayed for her own motion. The third part of her motion says that she welcomes the influx of new doctors entering the workforce. Let me tell you what has happened in my electorate at Wattle Grove family practice. It's a family practice located out at Holsworthy, with over 3,000 patients on its books. The minister has now changed the classification of that practice from outer metropolitan to inner metropolitan, which means that this practice has now lost a registrar and cannot get the registrar back. We've gone from four doctors there down to three. That occurred in August, and I started writing to the minister about this. I thank particularly the advocacy of Dr John Stanford, who is the practice manager at Wattle Grove family practice, and also the over 500 people of south-west Sydney that have written to me and signed a petition about this issue.

I don't think that those 500 people agree that the Albanese Labor government has strengthened Medicare. They certainly haven't invested in Medicare. They have not invested in public health in my electorate, and that is proven. The minister for health has refused to assist to re-classify Wattle Grove family practice so that we can get that additional doctor. So, when I hear that the member for Aston has been able to have an increase in doctors in her electorate, I can't help but ask: is it the case that the health minister assisted the electorate of Aston because Aston is now represented by a Labor member of parliament? If not, why will he not assist the people in my electorate?

Honourable Member:

An honourable member interjecting—

Jenny Ware (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I note the honourable member's interjection. I can show you all the documentation. I have already sent it to the minister; he's not interested in assisting the people of south-west Sydney. He's not interested in assisting those of us who are Liberal MPs. He's not assisted in that at all, and then will refer to women's issues—

Government members interjecting—

Bridget Archer (Bass, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

( ):  Order.

Jenny Ware (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Deputy Speaker, thank you.

Bridget Archer (Bass, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I ask members to allow the member—

Jenny Ware (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I wonder if these interjections are because they know it's true. They're hearing the same things in their electorates. I'm sorry the member for Aston didn't stay for her own motion, but this health minister, this government is not helping those in my electorate with health.

Louise Miller-Frost (Boothby, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Deputy Leader of the Opposition said, to paraphrase, that you only value things you pay for. But I have news for her and for the Liberal Party. Australians value Medicare. They value our health system, they value access to a GP, they value access to hospitals, particularly in an emergency, and they value access to affordable medicines through the PBS. Despite the challenges of our health system, it is without a doubt first class in terms of affordability and access, and definitely in terms of quality. You wouldn't want to be sick anywhere else in the world.

Labor is the party of Medicare. It was first introduced through Prime Minister Gough Whitlam's government as Medibank, then abolished by the subsequent Liberal government—as it would seem all Liberal governments do not value the public good of universal health care—then reintroduced as Medicare by the Hawke government. It is a fundamental part of the Australian way of life. It has improved the overall health of the country, has increased our life expectancy and has eliminated medical related bankruptcies.

But that hasn't stopped the Liberals and Nationals trying to undermine it. Who can forget when the now opposition leader, Peter Dutton, was health minister? He tried to introduce a GP copayment; when Labor blocked in the Senate, he froze Medicare rates to try to force GPs to stop bulk-billing. He cut $50 billion from public hospitals and $200 million from emergency departments. He tried to force the introduction of fees to attend a hospital emergency department. He tried to add $5 to every prescription, which would have meant a significant impost on many people who rely on multiple regular medications to manage their health conditions. In comparison, we have cut the price of prescriptions, frozen PBS prices and introduced 60-day prescriptions to further cut the cost to patients—moves he tried to block. He abolished Health Workforce Australia, which the AMA said would undermine capacity to ensure that Australia has the right number of doctors in the right places. Sure enough, that's exactly what happened. No wonder he was voted by doctors as the worst health minister ever. In comparison, we have tripled the bulk-billing incentive, which has resulted in a four per cent increase in bulk-billed consults across South Australia, including in my electorate of Boothby.

The government's 2024-25 budget provides $2.8 billion to continue to strengthen Medicare on top of the historic $6.1 billion investment in Medicare in the previous year. In 2023, we delivered the biggest indexation boost for Medicare in 30 years. This year, we delivered the second largest increase, with almost $900 million in additional funding for Medicare. This government has delivered more than double the amount of indexation to Medicare than the previous government did in almost a decade.

What a surprise! This has resulted in more junior doctors deciding to become GPs, up by 25 per cent. In the last two years, 17,846 new medical practitioners registered to practise in Australia. That is more than at any time in the last decade under those opposite. It turns out doctors want to work in the interesting and vital area of general practice if they can see it's financially sustainable.

One of the election commitments I was most pleased about at the last election, having worked in the health sector, was the announcement of 50 Medicare urgent care clinics across Australia, including one in Marion in my electorate. Since then, they have been such a raging success that we've opened 77 Medicare urgent care clinics. The Marion urgent care clinic has been open for just over a year now and has had more than 12,000 patients through its doors. Those are 12,000 people who were too sick or too injured to wait for their normal GP but not bad enough to go to an emergency department, people who instead got seen at the urgent care clinic instead of presenting to the hospital ED.

You would think that this amazing success story making a direct benefit to the health of Australians would be something we could agree on in a bipartisan matter. But no—the shadow Treasurer has made it very clear that, if a Dutton government is elected next year, the urgent care clinics are on the chopping block. They are making a deliberate decision to force Australians to choose between turning up to overcrowded emergency departments, making wait times even worse, and waiting to get an appointment with a GP even if they are injured on the weekend.

Labor is the party of Medicare. We know how important this is to the Australian way of life. You can't risk a Dutton led government with the health system led by the man voted worst health minister ever.

Anne Webster (Mallee, National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Regional Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak to the member for Aston's motion regarding Medicare. I relish the opportunity to highlight the significant ways Medicare is failing rural, regional and remote Australians under the Albanese government. Regional health is in crisis, particularly when it comes to workforce. A lack of workforce means everyday people cannot get the care they need in the right place or at the right time. An independently commissioned report published last year found a $6.55-billion-a-year deficit in healthcare spending for rural Australians. That is $848 per person per year not being spent on health care in the regions compared to the cities.

The gap is largely due to rural Australians' lack of access to primary care. It's not because rural people don't need the care; research shows very clearly that rural people live more years with illness or disability and die younger than their metropolitan counterparts. Life expectancy, for example, is highest in Sydney and lowest in outback Northern Territory, with a difference of 13.6 years for men and 12.7 years for women. This is outrageous. The Albanese Labor government should focus on rectifying the inequity in our regional health system, not maintaining their tunnel vision on voters in inner and outer metropolitan Australia and overinflating the success of their current policies.

The Albanese government's tunnel vision is illustrated by changes made to the distribution priority area in 2022. The ill-considered changes quickly resulted in movement of doctors from regional towns like Mildura and Horsham to larger inner regional cities or metropolitan cities. Labor's DPA change made the original health crisis worse, not better. I have called repeatedly for these changes to be reversed.

Another failing of this Labor government has been the introduction and rollout of urgent care clinics. These clinics are designed to help Labor state governments with overloaded emergency departments and failed primary care clinics. UCC's rob Peter to pay Paul by draining the workforce from private GP clinics to better-paid taxpayer funded positions in UCC's. The differential in pay and conditions between state funded health services and Medicare funded primary care is an ongoing issue in regional health, worsening workforce shortages around the country. The distribution of UCCs also favours Labor held electorates, with coalition held electorates in both cities and rural areas missing out. In fact, 66 per cent of all UCC's are in Labor held seats; who would imagine? UCC's outside the capital cities are highly skewed towards large regional centres such as Labor held Bendigo and Ballarat and of little benefit to people living in the large swathes of our country outside these areas.

This government has also hung its hat on the effectiveness of the changes to the rural bulk-billing incentive, yet Labor changes have been described as tinkering around the edges, given they only apply to children under 16 years and those with concession cards. Under Prime Minister Albanese, bulk-billing rates dropped from 88.8 per cent under the coalition in 2021 to 77.4 per cent for the year 2023-24. Hence, these changes have not met their aim of improving access to primary care.

As I said my maiden speech in 2019, a person's postcode should not determine their health status, but, for people in Mallee, it absolutely does. I thank doctors and health professionals in Mallee and in rural areas around the country for their dedication and hard work in providing high-quality health care to their communities. We must support our health workforce to do this often-thankless work by ensuring that regional health is high on the agenda and that Medicare funding for rural people is appropriate to the size and nature of the challenges experienced. Only a coalition government will be focused on the needs of people all over this wonderful country. Thank you.

Carina Garland (Chisholm, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I think the extraordinary attack we just heard on urgent care clinics should give us all pause for thought to recognise that these urgent care clinics are under real risk from the coalition at the next election. I know the people in my community and the people who use the urgent care clinics in Chisholm—we've got one in Mount Waverley—should be quite concerned about what a government led by the worst health minister in Australia's history would do to our community's health.

We said at the election that there was no higher priority for Labor in the health portfolio than strengthening Medicare and rebuilding general practice. I grew up in a household where my parents ran general practices. So, it is so dear to my heart that Australians have access to health care when they need it, regardless of how much money they might have to pay.

Our budget from this year provides $2.8 billion to continue to strengthen Medicare. Of course, Medicare is a Labor invention, and we are proud of it. This $2.8 billion that we're going to use to continue to strengthen Medicare is in addition to what was an historic $6.1 billion investment in Medicare in last year's budget.

The reforms we're introducing respond to the recommendations of the Strengthening Medicare Taskforce, taking the key steps needed to address the many pressing challenges in our healthcare system and making sure that it is a system that can be sustained for years to come.

Our government has delivered more than double the amount of indexation to Medicare than the previous government did in almost a decade. What a waste of time that was. We know the financial viability of general practice as we went into the last election was in serious trouble. There was a six-year freeze on Medicare rebates that started when the now Leader of the Opposition was health minister. That is a damning record.

We know that the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners took the step of calling on every GP in the country to stop bulk-billing to maintain the viability of general practice. What a parlous state our health system was placed in under the now Leader of the Opposition when he was health minister.

A government member: Australia's worst.

Absolutely Australia's worst, I hear from my friend, who is a doctor and would know a thing or two about health care.

Of course, strengthening general practice and Medicare is not the only thing our government is doing to protect and enhance the health of Australians. We went into the election promising that we would make medicines cheaper, and we're delivering on that promise.

It is quite amazing that people in my electorate have saved over $7 million since we introduced 60-day scripts. This is money back into the pockets of households when they really need that extra money. It's freeing up appointments at general practices right across my community and right across the country. And I know that through our investments in Medicare and the changes we've made to bulk-billing we've had almost 31,000 additional visits to bulk-billing GPs. We know nationally, too, that we've seen a huge boost. In my home state of Victoria, we've had an additional 1.4 million visits to GPs.

I think we should be concerned, as I said at the start of this contribution, about what would happen to our healthcare system if Australia's worst health minister ever got anywhere near becoming Prime Minister. We know there is an ideological dislike, hatred and loathing for Medicare. We saw that previous Liberal governments axed universal schemes like Medibank. So, there is form here. As they say, the greatest predictor of future behaviour is past behaviour, so we should all be very concerned about what will happen to Medicare and what will happen to our broader healthcare system if those opposite ever get the chance to be in government again.

Cameron Caldwell (Fadden, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's a great privilege to rise today and speak on this motion that was moved by the member for Aston—and I'll get to some of her contribution shortly. But let's be absolutely clear: this motion is an attack on the Leader of the Opposition and a desperate revival of the 'Mediscare' campaign that we saw in 2016. The coalition has a proud track record in relation to government investment in the health of our nation, including in Medicare, and it's important to use this opportunity to state some of the facts about how the coalition actually run health in Australia.

As I said, what we've seen today is essentially a desperate attempt to resuscitate that disgraced 'Mediscare' campaign. What actually happened when the coalition was in government was that we increased hospital funding from $13.3 billion to $22.7 billion; we had $537 billion in the forward estimates, which included things like a $7.3 billion increase in Medicare and a $10.1 billion increase in aged care; and we added and amended 2,800 PBS medicines. And whilst the Leader of the Opposition was the health minister—which the current Labor government like to refer to quite frequently—one of the key things that he did was start the Medical Research Future Fund to the tune of $20 billion.

Another fun fact which is frequently overlooked by those opposite is that, whilst the Leader of the Opposition was the health minister, Medicare bulk-billing rates were actually at about 84 per cent. And, as we had confirmed in question time recently, under the previous coalition government bulk-billing rates actually reached 88 per cent. Incredibly—you wouldn't believe this—under the Labor government they are down to 77 per cent. So, whilst Labor talks a big game on managing Medicare and delivering health services, the numbers just don't stack up.

It's also interesting that they continue to refer to their Medicare urgent care clinics as one of the key planks in how they're increasing bulk-billing services. So I thought I'd use a little local example from the electorate of Fadden. It is in the suburb of Oxenford, which is tucked in neatly next to the M1 and is home to some of our favourite theme parks.

In Oxenford you will find a Medicare urgent care clinic. But here's the thing. I remember something from some time ago. In November 2013 a previous Labor government opened the Gold Coast's first GP super clinic at Oxenford—miraculously! It is located at No. 2, Leo Graham Way, Oxenford. Now, that is incredible. You wouldn't think that, 10 years later, to the month, Health Minister Butler, in November 2023, would announce a Medicare urgent care clinic at No. 2 Leo Graham Way, Oxenford. There are striking similarities. They are in the same building. They do the same thing. They provide bulk-billing services with longer hours. What have we got? We have got a GP super clinic that was rebadged as a Medicare urgent care clinic. There has been no increase in patient numbers. This is the same service in the same building, which the health minister is dressing up as a new initiative to deliver on an election commitment. Actually, it is completely misleading the Australian people.

The coalition has a proud record on health. With this motion, Labor are, typically, trying to search for a corflute slogan for the upcoming election. They should spend less time trying to attack the coalition and more time trying to fix the health system. Australians know the coalition can be trusted on health.

Terry Young (Longman, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time allotted for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned, and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.