ADJOURNMENT

Ms SITOU (Reid) (19:45): When Labor came to government, Medicare was under pressure. Bulk-billing was falling, medicines were getting more expensive and aged care was in crisis. That's because our health and aged-care systems had been neglected by the coalition for almost a decade.

When the Liberals and Nationals were in government, they neglected Medicare. They froze Medicare rebates for six years, they ripped billions of dollars out of the system and they tried to slap on a $7 fee for every GP visit. Since we've been in government, we've worked hard to turn that around, because this is a government that cares about affordable health care.

We care about Medicare and aged care. We care about making sure Australians have somewhere to go for urgent medical needs. That's why Labor is building Medicare urgent care clinics.

They're open for hours, you don't need an appointment, and they're fully bulk-billed. It means you can get stitches for a cut, treatment for an infection or help with a sprain without having to wait for hours in emergency or pay out of pocket. We've already opened 87 clinics across the country, and we're building 50 more, including in Burwood in my electorate.

Medicare urgent care clinics mean patients can get urgent medical help when they need it, and they take pressure off our emergency departments in our hospitals. Every Australian should be able to afford the medicines they need. That's what we believe, and that's what we're delivering.

We've made the biggest cut to the cost of PBS medicines in Australia's history. The maximum co-payment is now just $30. We've also introduced 60-day dispensing.

That means fewer trips to the pharmacy and more money in your pocket, especially for people managing long-term conditions. Labor is making medicines cheaper because your health shouldn't come down to what you can afford. For too long, women's health has been underfunded, overlooked and under-researched, but Labor is changing that.

We've delivered a $573 million women's health package because women deserve better care, more choices and lower costs. We've listed new contraceptive pills on the PBS for the first time in 30 years. We're boosting Medicare rebates for IUDs and implants, saving women up to $400 a year.

We've introduced Medicare funded menopause health checks, new hormone therapies, and expanded endometriosis and pelvic pain clinics. This is about listening to women and acting. We care about the quality of aged care because Australians deserve dignity in their later years, and we've been working hard to reform the system that the coalition had left broken.

We've made sure there's now a registered nurse on site in residential aged care more than 99 per cent of the time, and from 1 November we're introducing a new Aged Care Act, putting the rights of older Australians at the heart of the system. We're reforming in-home care too, so people can stay in their homes longer with the support they need, and we're making aged care more culturally appropriate, especially for diverse communities like mine.

I had the pleasure of taking the Minister for Aged Care and Seniors to the Bernard Chan Nursing Home in Burwood and the CASS Campsie Residential Aged Care facility, two wonderfully culturally appropriate aged-care facilities that are supporting the Chinese community, because everyone deserves to age with dignity in a system that respects who they are. Bulk-billing incentives for GPs will be available to everyone with a Medicare card, meaning an additional 18 million visits to the GP every year will now be bulk-billed.

On a recent visit to a medical practice in my electorate, Minister Butler and I heard how 16 out of 18 of the GPs working there would now be able to move to fully bulk-billing all their patients because we are delivering the biggest boost to Medicare bulk-billing in decades on 1 November. This builds on the work we did in 2023 to triple the bulk-billing incentives for children and concession card holders.

I am proud, as are all Labor members, to be a part of this government, which is strengthening Medicare and improving our aged-care system.