Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2025-2026

Mr CALDWELL (Fadden—Opposition Whip) (11:29): Parliament's a funny place. Today, I'm disappointed but I'm not surprised that we don't have the Minister for Health and Ageing in the room. When the motion was read out before—we are talking about $22 billion worth of government expenditure, and, quite frankly, the minister should be here to explain what his department is doing to help Australians get the care that they need.

Instead, we're very fortunate! The member for Robertson's just left. He sent two doctors in, which is great.

So we've got the medical care that we need. We just don't have the ministerial care that we deserve. The assistant minister I'll come to in a moment—no, I'll come to him now.

Welcome, Assistant Minister. It's great to see you here, and I'm sure that you'll pass on these questions and our concerns from the coalition to Minister Butler. I passed him in the corridor and I nearly— The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Ms Swanson ): I'll remind the member that all comments should be directed through the chair.

Mr CALDWELL: Sorry, Deputy Speaker. I saw Minister Butler out in the corridor. I got very excited that he was nearly going to join us, but he didn't.

Now, the thrust of this consideration in detail today is about how Labor is actually failing to deliver health services that Australians deserve. We, as a coalition, are seriously concerned by the misleading rhetoric and the false promises that this Labor government has been peddling when it comes to health. Prime Minister Albanese went to the election waving around his Medicare card, promising Australians that all you'd need is your Medicare card, not your credit card, and that it would be free to see a GP.

He made this promise 71 times. But the department of health's incoming government brief, exposed under freedom of information, estimates that a quarter of GP clinics across Australia will not bulk-bill. This data from the health department shows that millions of Australians will still need their credit card as well as their Medicare card to see a GP.

I, quite frankly, say to the member for Robertson, if there's anything that's ever going to give you a heart attack, it's the out-of-pocket expenses when you go to pay the bill at the doctor. Minister Butler has tried to backtrack from what the Prime Minister promised, saying that there was never going to be 100 per cent bulk-billing. Well, the Prime Minister certainly said that when he told Australians, 'One card covers it all'—not your credit card; your Medicare card.

Australians deserve to have that delivered, and he is failing. While the Prime Minister was out there during the month of May waving around his Medicare card, Australian families paid a combined $166 million in out-of-pocket costs at the GP—just in that month alone. In the past year, Australians have paid more than $2 billion out of pocket.

That's more than $2 billion charged to Australians' credit cards, not through their Medicare cards. This is effectively a big $2 billion furphy from the Prime Minister. It means that Australians are now paying 75 per cent more out of their own pocket to see a doctor under this Labor government, so more Australians have had to rely on their credit cards to visit the GP since the Albanese Labor government was elected in 2022.

It's really quite appalling that the Prime Minister was going to mislead the Australian public about their access to health care. So, Assistant Minister—through you, Deputy Speaker, perhaps the assistant minister could ask the minister if the government stands by its promise to ensure that all Australians can see a GP for free and that the only card that they will need is their Medicare card.

Does the minister accept that fewer Australians can rely only on their Medicare card to see a doctor since the Labor government was elected? And will the minister apologise to families in my electorate for overseeing the highest GP out-of-pocket costs on record? It goes on, because GP bulk-billing has fallen from 88 per cent to 77 per cent since the Albanese Labor government was elected.

There have been 40 million less bulk-billed GP visits in the past year alone. That means that the rate of bulk-billing in this country is 11 per cent lower under the Labor government than it was under the coalition. So, quite frankly, this Labor government, as always, is interested in spin and slogans and is not delivering for Australians and their health care.