Marielle Smith (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Health and Aged Care, Senator Gallagher. Can the minister please update the Senate on how the Albanese government is strengthening Medicare?

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

I thank Senator Marielle Smith for the question. Last week, the Prime Minister chaired the National Cabinet meeting which included consideration of the report from the Strengthening Medicare Taskforce. Senators will recall that Labor went to the election with a commitment to improve primary care through a $750 million commitment to strengthen Medicare and the establishment of the Strengthening Medicare Taskforce—

Opposition Senators:

Opposition senators interjecting—

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

to take the interjection—to establish urgent care centres across Australia, which we are also doing, and we're working with the states and territories to improve access to after-hours emergency care.

I should point out that we were the only party at the 2022 election to commit to additional investment in Medicare. That's probably not surprising, in the sense that the former government had done everything they could to undermine Medicare over the years, cutting it and capping the indexation rates so that it affected general practice.

Labor is the only party for Medicare. We know that mob over there wanted to end it. We know you want to undermine it. It's the backbone of our healthcare system. It's the foundation that has provided the care that Australians need, deserve and expect. The Australian people expect their government to look at ways to invest in Medicare—not to weaken it, not to cut it, but to look at ways to make it work better for them and put downward costs on the expenses of accessing health care. We know we've got a big challenge ahead. We've got an ageing population, more chronic disease and complex care needs, and the Australian community need and expect Medicare to be there to meet their needs. We can't do this alone. We will work in partnership with the states and territories to make sure the health system meets the needs of the future.

Honourable senators interjecting—

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Interjections across the chamber are disorderly. Order, Senator Wong! Order, Senator Ruston! Senator Marielle Smith, a first supplementary?

Marielle Smith (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Can the minister outline why Medicare needs strengthening?

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

Yes, I can. I thank Senator Smith for the question. Primary health care is in crisis. The shadow minister herself has said that our health system is in crisis at a number of levels, and she even went on to say, 'Perhaps we should have been more challenging in reform.'

Opposition Senators:

Opposition senators interjecting—

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

'Woah, what does that mean?'

A government senator: Who said that?

That was Senator Ruston, shadow minister for health. 'We should have been more challenging in reform.' Hmm, what does that mean? Co-payments? It might be! Cuts? It could be! They were the reforms that the government when you were in power sought to put in place. The crisis in primary health care is the product of deliberate decisions made by the former government. There is no person in Australia who bears more responsibility for this than the now Leader of the Opposition, a man voted by Australia's doctors as the worst health minister in a generation. It's a hard award to get, but he won it!

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Marielle Smith, a second supplementary?

Marielle Smith (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

TH () (): Can the minister outline the major challenges to strengthening Medicare?

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

Thank you, Senator Smith; I can. There are challenges, including the considerable workforce challenges that we inherited and that we are dealing with. One of the biggest challenges we're dealing with now is the legacy of terminating measures—unfunded measures in the Health and Aged Care portfolio—left to us by the coalition. We see what must have happened when the former health and aged-care ministers went to ERC. They must have gone to ERC and said, 'We need some extra money for these things,' and the ERC must have said to them, 'Well, you can have it for one year, maybe two years, and then it's going to end.' That's what we're dealing with now: hundreds of measures that terminate, that just end. At 30 June—no more money. 'Sorry, adult dental program. We know that adults still have teeth and might still need dentists' services after 30 June, but we're not going to fund it.' It's a terminating measure. Well, we're dealing with that. We're cleaning up your mess.