Health Legislation Amendment (Miscellaneous Measures No. 1) Bill 2025

Mr FRENCH (Moore) (16:38): When Australians talk about Medicare, they talk about fairness. They talk about the simple, powerful idea that your bank balance should not determine whether or not you can see a doctor. They talk about the dignity of knowing that, when you need care, the system is there for you.

Australians are proud of Medicare, a system that Labor built and that Labor continues to defend and strengthen. That's exactly what the Health Legislation Amendment (Miscellaneous Measures No. 1) Bill 2025 does. It strengthens Medicare, modernises the systems around it and makes sure Australians get care more quickly and fairly.

This legislation may sound technical, but it is about something very real. It is about whether a doctor can start work sooner. It's about whether billions of dollars in rebates are paid out lawfully and transparently.

It's about whether bulk-billing continues to be the foundation of Medicare and whether doctors serving rural and outer suburban communities are treated fairly and whether their patients are treated fairly as well. This bill touches all of that. It has four big reforms: first, streamlining Medicare provider numbers; second, fixing cracks in the private health insurance rebate system; third, modernising the way patients assign Medicare benefits for bulk-billing; and, fourth, making the Bonded Medical Program fairer and stronger.

I will deal with them in turn. Right now, if a doctor finishes their training or a nurse practitioner moves to a new role, they have to apply for a Medicare provider number. That number is what lets them bill Medicare.

Without it, they cannot provide subsidised care. The problem is that the system is slow, clunky and paper heavy. It means wait times for approval, it means health professionals sitting on the sidelines when they should be in clinics and it means patients waiting longer for appointments.

This bill fixes that. It allows the Chief Executive Medicare to approve the use of computer programs to automatically issue provider numbers for straightforward cases. If you meet the criteria, the system issues the number—no delays, no unnecessary bottlenecks and no holding back the workforce when communities need them most.

Where discretion is needed, humans stay in the loop. If a provider number is refused, that decision will still be made by a Services Australia officer. That is the right balance: automation where it makes sense and human oversight where it matters.

What does that mean for the electorate of Moore? It means doctors at the Joondalup Health Campus can start sooner. It means GPs in Currambine and Ocean Reef can open their doors to more patients without waiting weeks for the red tape to catch up.

It means allied health workers can deliver to families in Padbury and Heathridge without needless delays. In a community like mine—growing fast and already feeling the pressure on health services—that makes a real difference. The second reform is about the private health insurance rebate.

Every year, the Commonwealth pays more than $7 billion to insurers on behalf of Australians. That is real money, month in and month out. But, for years, parts of the system have been run inconsistently with the law.

That is a risk to the integrity of the scheme, and it is a risk to public trust. This bill closes those gaps. It brings the law into line with practice and makes payments lawful and accountable.

It introduces a self-assessment model so insurers calculate their claims correctly. It requires them to provide evidence when asked. It gives the Chief Executive Medicare the power to modernise systems and approve forms, and it allows government to recover overpayments when mistakes happen.

In other words, the billions that flow through this scheme will flow lawfully, fairly and transparently. Australians deserve to know that health rebates are handled properly, and taxpayers deserve to know that their dollars are being respected. We know what happens when integrity is ignored.

We saw it in robodebt, where lives were shattered by a system designed to cut corners. We saw it when Scott Morrison secretly appointed himself to multiple ministries, keeping the truth from not only his colleagues but the public. That is what happens when governments treat accountability as optional.

Labor takes the opposite view. Integrity is not optional. Transparency is not optional.

And this bill proves it. The third reform goes to the very heart of Medicare: bulk-billing. Bulk-billing works because patients assign their Medicare benefit to the doctor or the hospital that treated them.

It is simple in principle, but the law underpinning it is outdated. It was written for a paper based system, and, in 2025, paper is the exception not the rule. The Albanese government is delivering $7.9 billion in new bulk-billing incentives—the biggest boost in decades.

But those incentives only work if the system is ready. Right now, many of the practices and software providers are not ready to implement assignment arrangements. If we stick to the old timeline, bulk-billing could be disrupted.

This bill avoids that risk. It pushes the start date back from January 2026 to July 2026. That gives everyone time to prepare.

In the meantime, bulk-billing continues. Extra incentives flow from November this year, and patients get the care they need without disruption. In my electorate of Moore, bulk-billing is the difference between families in Beldon being able to take their kids to the doctor and families putting it off because of the cost.

It is the difference between pensioners in Woodvale being able to see their GP and pensioners presenting at Joondalup hospital because they cannot afford it. Strengthening bulk-billing is not just good policy; it is a moral obligation, and that is what this bill helps deliver. The fourth reform strengthens the Bonded Medical Program.

This program exists to get more doctors into the areas that need them most—rural, regional and outer metropolitan communities. But, for too long, the penalties for doctors who left the program or failed to complete their obligations were blunt, unfair and counterproductive. Some doctors faced not just repaying their scholarship but also a six-year ban from Medicare.

That does not punish just the doctor; it punishes the communities that are already struggling to recruit enough doctors. This bill removes the blunt ban. It makes sure that consequences are fair to the doctor and are also fair to the community.

It allows all the work done in good faith to count towards the obligations, even if the work previously fell through the cracks. And doctors get a fair go when serving those communities. This change matters.

For the outer suburbs, where population growth is outpacing services, this change matters. And for the families in Carine and Mullaloo, who face longer waits for basic care, this change matters. For every community where recruiting doctors is a challenge, this change matters.

Taken together, these reforms make our health system faster, fairer and stronger. They get doctors to patients sooner. They make sure that billions in rebates are paid lawfully and transparently.

They strengthen bulk-billing—the backbone of Medicare—and make the Bonded Medical Program work better for both doctors and communities. We do not sit back and hope that the system fixes itself. We roll up our sleeves and we do the work.

We modernise, we adapt and we prepare for the future. The opposition had nine years in office. They had nine years to strengthen bulk-billing, nine years to fix rebates, nine years to support regional doctors and nine years to cut red tape, and they did none of it.

They let bulk-billing rates fall. They let trust collapse. Why?

Because secrecy suited them, because pretending was easier than governing, because spin was easier than substance. Labor is different. We are delivering stronger Medicare, stronger bulk-billing and a health system that is fit for the future.

We are building a system that is accountable, efficient and fair, a system that respects taxpayers, a system that respects patients and a system that respects the professionals who deliver care—a system built for the 21st century. This is not abstract for me. I know what it means to rely on the health system.

I am here today because of a kidney transplant. I know the difference it makes when medicines are affordable and accessible. I know the difference it makes when hospitals have the staff they need.

And I know the difference it makes when governments take health care seriously. That is why I am proud to support this bill. It's not about lines in legislation; it's about lives in our communities.

It's about whether families in Moore can see a doctor. It's about whether young doctors are treated fairly. It's about whether the system works for people, not against them.

Health is about trust. It's about trust that, when you need care, you will get it. It's about trust that the system is fair, efficient and accountable.

It's about trust that governments will do the hard work, not just talk about it. This bill delivers on that trust. It strengthens Medicare, it makes bulk-billing stronger, it makes programs fairer, it makes the system faster and it makes it work for the people.

That is what Labor governments do. We build, we strengthen, we deliver. The opposition can keep complaining and they can keep pretending, but Labor is doing the work.

Labor is delivering for Moore; Labor is delivering for Australia. That is why I commend this bill to the House.