Michelle Rowland (Greenway, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Communications) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak about the health care the families of Greenway want and deserve. The accessibility of high-quality health care has never been more important, particularly in the fast-growing north-west. That's why we ran a successful community campaign that secured an emergency department for the planned Rouse Hill hospital. It's why we are campaigning for a maternity ward at Rouse Hill hospital, backed by broad community support. We need the public Rouse Hill hospital to be built for the future, not for yesterday.

As I met with constituents across Greenway, I found there was rightful concern about the commute times to access health services at hospitals in Blacktown and Westmead. In the nation's fastest-growing population corridor we must ensure essential services to support this growth are prioritised. Improving access to urgent care for non-life-threatening injuries is another critical part of Labor's plan to improve health care for Australians. That's why I was so pleased to recently announce that Labor has committed to delivering a Medicare urgent care clinic in Greenway. Labor's Medicare urgent care clinics provide fast, accessible health care for urgent, non-life-threatening injuries such as burns, cuts, infections, sprains, minor fractures and more. Medicare urgent care clinics are walk-in, are open early until late and fully bulk-bill. At the Medicare urgent care clinic in Rouse Hill, all you will need is your Medicare card, not your credit card. It will take pressure off Blacktown and Westmead hospitals and will mean people get care when they need it, without waiting hours in a busy emergency department.

Labor proudly built Medicare, and since coming to office the Albanese government has been making it stronger. We have delivered cheaper medicines and more bulk-billing, and a re-elected Albanese Labor government will deliver another 50 Medicare urgent care clinics on top of the 87 we've delivered in our first term, including in Greenway. North-west Sydney is part of this, and I'm proud to assure my local area that through stable advocacy and good government they can expect more under Labor.

The alternative is placing everything at risk, and I won't stand for that in Greenway. The Leader of the Opposition was voted the worst health minister by Australian doctors, and he tried to destroy Medicare. We won't let him do it again. He tried and bulk-billing and slashed $50 billion from public hospitals. He wanted to monetise essential health care by making patients pay a GP tax to see their doctor. They had nine years in government and never opened a single urgent care clinic, and have repeatedly labelled them as a wasteful spending, so how on earth can you trust them to deliver this facility for our community? Labor's urgent care clinics are an essential service, and only a re-elected Albanese government can be trusted to deliver for the people of north-west Sydney.