Nita Green (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Sometimes it's difficult to understand whether the opposition understands what a 'Dixer' is, because this question is an opportunity for those on this side to talk about the appalling history under the Morrison government and its treatment of Medicare and GPs, particularly in rural and regional areas, and what our government is doing to fix the mess you left.

Let me break this down for you. You so utterly broke the Medicare system and the reliance on GPs that it was so incredibly difficult for people to see a GP in rural and regional areas. But now we have a situation where we have had to step in and make sure people can see a GP. But it's very interesting to see that those opposite are opposed to the use of distribution priority areas. I am wondering whether senators on that side have consulted with members of their own party, because I know that, in Queensland, Cairns is a distribution priority area. The member for Leichhardt hasn't opposed that listing. Townsville has DPA status. The member for Herbert hasn't opposed that listing. Mackay has DPA status, and the Whitsundays. And we certainly haven't seen that happen from the member for Dawson. And Hervey Bay has DPA status, under the Labor government. We know that means that the member for Hinkler must be very supportive of our policy.

But it is clear that under the Liberal-Nationals government—the former Morrison government—at every opportunity they had, they ripped out funding from Medicare and made it harder to see a GP. We know they froze the Medicare rebate for six years. If you speak to a GP, whether in the city or the bush, they will tell you that the former government ripped the heart out of Medicare when they froze the rebate. They went as far as to cut access to telehealth appointments for regional Australians. They also made sure that people living in places like Emerald were waiting 12 weeks to see a GP.

We had a Senate inquiry and we put that motion to this place, and those opposite—who are going to get up today and talk about access to GPs—voted against that inquiry. You said there was no problem, that there was no issue, nothing to see here, no problem to be fixed. But when we held that inquiry, initiated by Labor, we heard horrible stories from people around the country about the treatment that you lot put them through so that they couldn't see a GP. That is why a Labor government is strengthening Medicare, and we were very clear at the election and were supported at the election to form a government with a core value of strengthening Medicare and protecting it. We will be delivering urgent care clinics in regional areas and across the country. We have developed the Strengthening Medicare Taskforce, an important opportunity to bring so many people around the table to fix this workforce issue caused by your former government. And we have delivered DPA access to areas that are desperately in need of GPs.

We will not stand here and be lectured by a political party that sacked nurses in Queensland. Queenslanders will never forget that. We know that Queenslanders are so pleased to finally have a government that values Medicare. I won't stand here, as someone who lives in a regional area, and be lectured to by those opposite about who cares about access to GPs and Medicare.

I note that the previous speaker raised the issue of medicines. Well, I have fantastic news for you. Today, we have announced that we will be making medicines cheaper for millions of Australians. This is a fantastic step forward—the first time in 75 years—