CONSTITUENCY STATEMENTS

Mr JOSH WILSON (Fremantle—Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy and Assistant Minister for Emergency Management) (16:08): Health is not only the bedrock of individual wellbeing; it defines the quality of life within our families and across our communities. I know it matters enormously to the people I represent. I've often said that the most important things are the things we share, and that's because those common features of Australian life are the manifestation of our principled commitment to fairness, fair pay and working conditions, a first-rate public education system, the protection of our environment, the social safety net, and community infrastructure and facilities.

Needless to say, a high-quality public health system is right at the top of that list. That's why Labor fought to create Medicare and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, both of which are distinctive features of our way of life in Australia, just as Labor created the age pension, compulsory superannuation, the National Disability Insurance Scheme and the national broadband network.

Keeping our public health system strong and effective has to be a perpetual focus of good government, because the needs of our system change as Australians live longer and as we embrace new diagnostic and treatment technologies. That's why the Albanese government has done what Labor governments always do—make our health system stronger and more responsive to the needs of the Australian community.

That's why we've made the biggest investment in Medicare in a generation, lifting bulk-billed GP care to 90 per cent by 2030, including through the creation of new dedicated bulk-billing clinics like the ones that have opened this year in my community in Jandakot and Hamilton Hill. That's why we'll shortly complete the delivery of 137 Medicare urgent care clinics, including the clinic in Beeliar that has been one of the most effective in the country.

That's why we've delivered a new women's health package with new endo and pelvic pain clinics and a long belated focus on perimenopause and menopause. And it's why we've reached a new agreement with the states and territories to provide an additional $25 billion to fund public hospitals. My family has had an unusual six months, with three separate hospitalisations.

My mum had a major cerebral haemorrhage last November and, as a result, spent time at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, then at Fiona Stanley Hospital and finally with the amazing crew at Freo hospital in January. My daughter was hospitalised with a heart condition, and last month my dad was hospitalised after a fall. I am incredibly grateful for our public hospital system.

I want to express my family's gratitude for the expertise and phenomenal care of doctors and nurses and technicians and orderlies and cleaners and a range of other support staff provided. It is, of course, life-saving and life-restoring work of these people who contribute to our health, and it's also a labour of love. It's a service that any Australian can access, without concern for their financial circumstances, with their Medicare card.

That is not the case in a vast majority of other countries. It's a special feature of Australian life that Labor fought to achieve and that the Albanese government is working to keep strong.