Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2025-2026
Ms WHITE (Lyons—Assistant Minister for Women, Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care and Assistant Minister for Indigenous Health) (12:14): Undoubtedly, all of us want people across our country to be able to access the services they deserve, whether it's health care or, as a health professional, being supported to deliver their care to patients. I thank all members for their contributions, particularly those on this side who've spoken about some of the excellent measures contained in the budget and the support that's providing to Australians, but I also want to talk about some of the contributions from the other side of the chamber.
Australians should never forget that the coalition wanted Australians to pay more to see a GP. When they were in government they called the Medicare system unsustainable. They said, 'While many Australians already contribute to the cost of a visit to their GP, from 1 July next year the government will ask all Australians to contribute to their own healthcare costs.' The coalition announced the end of bulk-billing when they were in government, but now, conveniently, they very much forget their own history.
But we will never forget. Australians will never forget. I think we can see, from the outcome of this election, that Australians know that Labor can be trusted with Medicare.
This election was a vote for Labor to continue to strengthen Medicare, and that is what we'll get on and deliver. We have seen bulk-billing increase in every state and territory. The Albanese Labor government has had the three largest Medicare rebate increases in history.
We've delivered that, and now we're making the single largest investment in Medicare since its creation over 40 years ago. By 2030 this will mean 18 million additional bulk-billing visits each year. Nine in 10 visits to see a GP will be free and bulk-billed.
Around 4,800 GP practices will be fully bulk-billed, which is triple the current number, and $859 million will be saved by Australian patients every single year. Now, that is something to be proud of. Compare that to the coalition.
When the honourable member Sussan Ley was health minister, she increased Medicare rebates by how much? Zero—there was absolutely not a single dollar increase in the Medicare rebate. We heard the coalition talking about bulk-billing.
It was in freefall under them. They claimed that it came from a high of 88 per cent, but that is completely misleading—and it's not just me saying that. It was the College of General Practitioners who said that bulk-billing was in freefall and at a tipping point under the former government.
The previous government likes to inflate their bulk-billing figures by relying on massive numbers of COVID related bulk-billed visits during the pandemic, like for PCR swab tests and vaccines, and they tried to fudge their figures by magically producing a bulk-billing figure of 88 per cent on the eve of the 2022 election. How politically convenient. Now they use that as a point in time to compare bulk-billing figures today.
I'm proud that bulk-billing numbers are increasing. Every state and territory across the country has seen an increase in bulk-billing. That is good for patients.
From 1 November this year, we are going to see a further increase in bulk-billing rates across the country. Again, that will be good for the hip pockets of Australians needing to see their GPs. I've talked about spin from the opposition.
How about we talk about the facts? Labor is proud of our investment in Medicare. We created it.
We have made record investments in health and health care. I will talk about some of those, in addition to what my colleagues have, in the time I have left. We have more bulk-billing.
We've seen more Medicare urgent care clinics. We promised to deliver 50 at the election in 2022 and we delivered 87. At this election we committed to building another 50, and I'm proud that we've already seen some of those come online.
We committed to deliver more doctors and more nurses. We've made a $617 million investment in this budget that will see more Australians accessing health professionals closer to where they live. We've seen an increase in the number of graduates who are participating in our medical programs through our universities—a record number this year.
That has built on the back of a record number last year, and I'm hopeful we'll see a record number again next year—more doctors and more nurses. We have cheaper medicines, and, from 1 January, they'll be cheaper again. The cost of a script on the PBS will be just $25.
We haven't seen a cost like that since 2004. That's being delivered by this government. There'll be more choice, lower costs and better health care for women with our record investment of nearly $800 million in the women's health package.
That is delivering much better outcomes already, including cheaper medicines and access to more therapies for women right across this country, and better outcomes from investment in our pelvic pain clinics and more investment in mental health, with $1 billion committed, which is the largest increase that we've ever seen in this country's history. When it comes to their health, people can trust Labor.
They can trust that we'll invest in and strengthen Medicare. I'm proud of this budget. Proposed expenditure agreed to.