Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

We've committed to them over the first term. In fact, we've profiled the money in this financial year, so the intention is to get them up and running as soon as possible. Working with the jurisdictions and with primary care, it might be that there are different starts in different jurisdictions as they get rolled out. We completely understand that this support needs to flow, but it's not something the federal government can do on its own. The money is there; it's profiled in that first year. We're going to work in partnership with those jurisdictions that want us to. And obviously those other investments, like the one to support staff that I talked about starting January this year, the Strengthening Medicare Taskforce, is in place. And the grants going to GPs—the $220 million worth of grants to help them accommodate their workload—is also funded in the budget.