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

Thank you to Senator Stewart, who is committed—like all on this side—to a strong Medicare system and to bulk-billing. That's quite different, of course, to those who we face opposite. It is this side of the chamber that is delivering historic investments in Medicare and health: the largest investment in bulk-billing in the history of Medicare, which came into effect last week; the rollout of urgent care clinics, which are a bulk-billed walk-in service seven days a week for extended hours; making medicines cheaper by cutting the cost of PBS medicines for all Australians; and supporting medical staff.

We know from history, from form and from values that it is only Labor which can be trusted to protect Medicare. What we know about those opposite is this: a shameful legacy of cuts and a shameful legacy of mismanagement in Australia's health system. They deliberately ran down Medicare and general practice.

Mr Dutton, in his first budget as health minister, tried to abolish bulk-billing altogether and make every single Australian pay the GP tax every time they visited a doctor. When we blocked that infamous GP tax in this chamber, Mr Dutton started a six-year freeze to Medicare rebates.