Tammy Tyrrell (Tasmania, Jacqui Lambie Network) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

If you're an adult with no concession card and you're looking for a bulk-billing doctor in Northern Tasmania, how many options do you reckon there are? None. Bulk-billing isn't supposed to be for everyone. It's supposed to be a safety net to keep health care available for those who can't afford to pay for it, but Tasmanians who can't afford it are still being asked to pay for it. The bulk-billing system isn't a safety net in Tasmania. There isn't a safety net at all. Tasmanians have the highest out-of-pocket GP fees in the country. We're the country's oldest population, with the lowest average wages in the country and the highest rate of people with two or more chronic conditions. In other words, the state that needs GPs the most but can afford it the least is paying the highest fees in the country. People are falling through the cracks. We're not just talking about the absolute poorest of the poor either. We're talking about ordinary people who aren't poor enough to qualify for bulk-billing incentives but who aren't rich enough to save anything from this month's pay cheque and about the people putting bills on payment plans and using Afterpay to buy groceries.

While Tasmanians are avoiding the doctor, politicians are arguing about whose job it is to deal with it. The Tasmanian Liberals have a shocking record on health. When they're challenged on it, they say that the feds need to come to the party. The federal Labor government says that they're doing things like increasing the bulk-billing incentive. But giving doctors more money for bulk-billing doesn't work when none of them bulk-bill. Every bit of our health system is under pressure, from GP clinics shutting down to overflowing emergency departments. Our health system is on fire while the state and the feds are arguing about whose job it is to put the fire out. You aren't doing a community service by telling Tasmanians why their problems aren't your problem. Just fix it.

The Labor government champion their urgent care clinics as a solution to Tassie's bulk-billing woes. These clinics do bulk-bill patients, but they're not what Tasmanians were promised. Labor said the clinics would be open from 8 am until 10 pm, but they're not. Labor went to an election promising they'd be open for 14 hours a day and they're open for six. Labor's Tasmanian team seems to think they should get credit for delivering 40 per cent of what they promised. They think they should get praised for only helping those who get sick or injured between lunch and dinner.

I'll tell you about an urgent care clinic experience of a constituent of mine. She became violently ill one morning in Launnie and needed fluids. She had to head to a private clinic in Launceston because Labor's urgent care clinic wasn't open. She had to pay a $160 facility fee upfront for the care she needed. She then had to pay $41 for her treatment, which she got back from Medicare, and another $48 for her medication. She had to pay $200 for what Labor, when they went to an election, said would be free. What choice did she have? For some, that would be the choice between getting the treatment they need and having money for next week's groceries. It is not a choice Tasmanians should have to make.

Everyone should have access to affordable medical care when they need it. We need to make bulk-billing more affordable and available. But we can't have the cost blow out of control, because that ends up being paid for by you in your taxes. Families struggling to make ends meet don't need to be given free things with one hand and taxed on the other to cover the bill. That's why, to make bulk-billing more generous, we need to target it. Why do kids of rich parents living on Sydney's beaches get a GP visit for free? Why do they get a free GP visit, but an older woman working pay cheque to pay cheque as a cleaner in Ravo, earning just above minimum wage, has to fork out $80 for a GP visit? And it's not just the visit. She could be told by her GP that she needs to see a specialist. She also can't afford to see them and take medication that she can't afford to buy.

The bulk-billing incentives should apply to postcodes for all people, not just for kids under 16 and people on concession cards. This would help GP clinics to be established in areas that service those postcodes, knowing that the large majority of the patients that come through the doors will be able to be bulk-billed at a higher rate. We need bulk-billing to be fairer across the board. The government really needs to take a long, hard look at itself and ask why its policies aren't working in Tassie. There needs to be a shake-up of the system to make sure that what they're doing in Canberra makes it over the Bass Strait.