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

My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Health and Aged Care. Last month, Cleanbill released their 2025 Blue report, revealing that all across the country GP bulk-billing rates have dropped and out-of-pocket costs have continued to rise. The AMA yesterday stated that the average length of a GP consult is now 18.7 minutes. Will the government commit to extending the tripled bulk-billing incentive to everyone and increasing the rebates for longer appointments in order to bring down out-of-pocket GP costs?

Malarndirri McCarthy (NT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Indigenous Australians) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Steele-John for the question and for his deep interest in the area of health. Like Senator Wong, we are incredibly proud of the announcement today in regard to boosting our hospital systems right across Australia—and, in fact, behind Medicare.

In November 2021, six months before the last election, the financial viability of general practice was in serious trouble after the coalition's six-year freeze on Medicare rebates, which started when Peter Dutton was Minister for Health. The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners took the extraordinary step of calling on every GP in the country to stop bulk-billing to maintain the viability of general practice. Dr Karen Price said, 'This is why, as a college, I'm exhorting everybody, including my own practice, to move as many people as you can onto private billing.'

At the time of the last election the Minister for Health and Aged Care, Mark Butler, said that general practice was in the most parlous state in the 40-year history of Medicare. Bulk-billing was falling off a cliff because of the six-year freeze on Medicare rebates. We have a different approach: more doctors, more bulk-billing and more urgent care clinics. That's our approach to strengthening Medicare, which is why we tripled the bulk-billing incentive from 1 November last year. We tripled it in the largest investment in bulk-billing in history. Since we tripled the investment, we have seen a turnaround in bulk-billing with a national increase of 1.9 percentage points in the first year—75.6 per cent to 77.5 per cent.

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

Senator Steele-John, first supplementary?

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

The GP workforce is in crisis right now because GP trainees are not afforded the same pay as their hospital colleagues. They're often not afforded the same respect by this government and this health system. Will the government commit to closing the gap for GP trainees to make general practice a genuinely attractive option again?

Malarndirri McCarthy (NT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Indigenous Australians) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Steele-John, thank you for the question. We know that workforce issues actually hit right across Australia in different points, certainly after COVID, and we certainly moved in terms of the health space. In the First Nations health space, we have provided an opportunity for 500 health traineeship positions. Now, 300 or so—I can get those numbers for you—are in place. We are aware of the concerns around GPs, but we know that supporting and tripling bulk-billing, in terms of Medicare in this country, is absolutely critical to assisting the employment situation across Australia.

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

Senator Steele-John, second supplementary?

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

Not that long ago, Australians could go to the GP and reasonably expect that their out-of-pocket costs would be minimal or non-existent. As so many in the community now know, that is no longer the case. Will the government commit to ensuring that everyone in Australia can see the GP for free?

Malarndirri McCarthy (NT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Indigenous Australians) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Steele-John. The number of junior doctors choosing to go into general practice grows each year. In 2025, a record 1,750 offers are expected to be made to junior doctors to begin government funded GP training. Around 40 per cent of these future GPs are commencing their training in the new general practice speciality of rural generalism, which will support people in rural areas to access primary care

I'm enormously proud that in the Northern Territory we are going ahead with Charles Darwin University's push to see more doctors graduate from Charles Darwin University—as well as from Flinders University in the Northern Territory. The Australian health system added one new doctor every hour last year, on average, with more doctors joining in the last two years than at any time in the past decade.