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

I think I answered some of that in the first question. I would say that the government's responsibility around Medicare is to strengthen it and to provide those investments in it. On bulk-billing, where I said the national average was a 2.1 per cent increase across Australia, in Tasmania in two months the incentive increased bulk-billing by 5.7 per cent. That means Tasmanians saved $990,000 between November and December through the bulk-billing incentive. Tasmanians have saved more than $5 million on cheaper medicines. They have saved money through the 60-day prescribing. We know that there are a lot of people who are eligible for that. We've got the urgent care clinics, where we've had over 13,500 presentations in those areas. We've got the GP grants going out. Tasmanians have got $3.46 million worth of those grants. But there is more to be done, because we want everyone to have access to affordable health care in this country.