Gordon Reid (Robertson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Over the past several months, my team and I have been leading a campaign for another Medicare urgent care clinic for Robertson on the Central Coast. My team and I have door-knocked and phone-called thousands of constituents in Robertson, asking for their support, and, over the course of our campaign, we managed to record over 3,500 signatures and had powerful conversations about healthcare services right across our region. I'm pleased to update the chamber here today and advise that, following our campaign, we have announced that our government will deliver additional Medicare urgent care clinics right across Australia and on the Central Coast. Those are additional Medicare urgent care clinics on top of the already 87 clinics that we have delivered during our term of government. On the Central Coast, we have been successful in our advocacy for another Medicare urgent care clinic.

Now, the federal Labor government has announced that our community will receive another clinic in the northern end of our electorate, servicing suburbs like Erina, Green Point, Terrigal, Kincumber, Avoca, Wamberal and Springfield. This is a phenomenal outcome for our community and will ensure that more people in our community will be able to see a bulk-billed doctor for urgent healthcare matters. This clinic will complement our existing clinics in Umina Beach and Lake Haven, which were 2022 federal election commitments which have been delivered. The Peninsula Medicare Urgent Care Clinic, located at 297 West Street, Umina Beach, opened to our community in November 2023 and since then has seen over 14,000 patients, all bulk-billed. These outstanding clinics are helping to take the pressure off our hospital emergency departments and assist Australians with the cost of living.

As an emergency doctor, I know how important access to health care is for people on the Central Coast, and that's why I'm thrilled that, as part of our suite of healthcare policies, we will also invest an additional $8.5 billion into Medicare to ensure that more Australians can see a GP, can see a doctor, for free. More Australians on the Central Coast will have more access to bulk-billed GP visits if the federal Labor government is elected this year, with additional bulk-billed consults and a boost to the number of fully bulk-billing GP practices in the region.

When it comes to Medicare, when it comes to the PBS, when it comes to our urgent care centre network, only the Australian Labor Party, only our Labor movement, can be trusted to protect and can be trusted to strengthen our healthcare services right across this country.