Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Payman, and thank you very much for the question and the opportunity to talk about something that Australians are deeply interested in, which is the strength of the Australian healthcare system and, in particular, the Medicare system.

Australians expect and deserve access to quality and affordable health care. That is what our government and those on this side are seeking to deliver because we are the party of Medicare. We have always supported Medicare, unlike those opposite who we know historically opposed Medicare and have had to, grudgingly, over the years, start to tell people that they actually support it, because they knew it was politically unsustainable for them to continue to oppose it. Four decades on, the party that created Medicare is strengthening it. We promised at the election that we would deliver 50 Medicare urgent care clinics and we are delivering. Expressions of interest have opened. The first of the clinics will be treating patients this year. They will offer bulk-billed services and open for extended hours.