Jordon Steele-John (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Last year, Australia's 150 billionaires made some $67,000 per hour—each one of them. While everyday families struggled with the basic cost of living, billionaires made 1,300 times the national wage of an Australian. Our growing wealth inequality and underfunded systems are leaving our communities without access to the medical and mental health care that they urgently need. In the electorate of Perth, in Western Australia, only one out of 46 GP clinics is a bulk-billing clinic. Outside of this, the community is paying, on average, almost $50 for a consultation. That is on top of soaring rents and grocery prices.

Meanwhile, half a million Australians are living in so-called GP deserts, receiving 40 per cent fewer GP services than the national average. This means that people have less access to check-ups, screenings and medication management support. WA leads the country in these GP deserts. People in these areas have a rate of passing away that is 1.5 times higher than the average due to preventable causes.

The Greens are the only party with a plan to genuinely tackle the inequality that is rampant in our society and to fund the health care and other systems that our community needs. This will mean that you will be able to go to the GP for free again and you will be able to get the health care you need where and when you need it once again and that our hospitals will be funded properly once again. These are the changes the community has demanded.