ADJOURNMENT
Ms CAMPBELL (Moreton) (19:55): The countdown is on. In just a few short sleeps, boys and girls, mums and dads, every single Australian will have something incredibly special to wake up to. It's three days until 1 November.
What's happening on 1 November? We are increasing the bulk-billing incentive, and that means more bulk-billing across our nation. More bulk-billing means people will have more affordable and more accessible health care from their GPs.
If we want to contrast that with what we saw when it came to health care under the coalition, we remember what they did. They cut billions of dollars from health care, and they tried to introduce a co-payment, killing bulk-billing. There has never been a starker difference between Labor, which is driving towards a world where bulk-billing can be accessed by everyday people in their own suburbs, and the coalition, who have spent their days cutting from health and trying to make bulk-billing a part of history.
Labor is expanding the eligibility for bulk-billing incentives to all Australians and creating a new incentive payment for practices that bulk-bill every single patient. The Bulk Billing Practice Incentive Program will provide an additional 12.5 per cent incentive payment on MBS benefits paid for eligible services, split between the GP and the practice, when participating GPs and their practice bulk-bill all eligible payments for all eligible services.
This means that nine out of 10 GP visits will be bulk-billed by 2030, boosting the number of fully bulk-billed practices to around 4,800 nationally, which is triple the current number. And—not only that—that is on top of our additional urgent care clinics and on top of making medicines cheaper. If you want to see a real, live example of where that's already happening, you only have to go to Our Medical in my community.
I visited Our Medical in Annerley recently, where the only thing that you need to take is your Medicare card. They are already doing it. We want to see more people join these kinds of practices.
They're open from 7 am to 10 pm from Monday to Friday and 8 am to 10 pm on weekends, 365 days a year, and they bulk-bill—GPs, face to face, telehealth, radiology, pathology, dental and CT scans. It's part of a big network and it's part of the realisation of our commitment to providing high-quality, comprehensive, accessible health care to everyone. It sounds a lot like Labor's commitment for every Australian to have access to free health care with just their Medicare card.
I want to touch briefly on one of our other fantastic bastions in the community of Annerley, and that is Braille House, which is a very special place. If you haven't heard of it—Braille House moved to Annerley in 1953, 72 years ago. It builds on a strong history of support in Queensland for those with low vision and those who are blind going back to 1987.
Braille House are the foremost experts when it comes to braille, and they are right in my local community, on Brisbane's south side. The legacy that they have built lives on today, with a range of services. As you know, Mr Speaker, Braille House is in the House today and tomorrow.
They have a collection of over 8,000 braille and Moon books for all ages. They are constantly transcribing new books, and over 126,300 pages of braille were transcribed last year. In 2024 they produced over 603 braille books and magazines and they delivered over 4,600 braille books across Australia.
They teach. They do touch literacy for vision impaired and sighted students. They do advocacy for the availability of braille and tactile resources, ensuring everyone, no matter who they are, has access to literacy.
They produce material for businesses and government offices. They do calendars, emergency resources and tactile QR code indicators. On literacy and the ability to communicate and understand through reading, writing and speaking, allowing individuals to understand and interact with the world around them is something that Braille House does every day, and we're very proud of them.
House adjourned at 20:00