PRIVATE MEMBERS' BUSINESS
Ms KARA COOK (Bonner) (11:14): Medicare is one of Labor's greatest achievements, and for more than four decades it has embodied a simple Australian principle—that, when you need health care, the only card you should need is your Medicare card, not your credit card. Health care should never depend on your postcode or your bank balance, and it should be available to every Australian when they need it.
That belief built Medicare, and it continues to drive every investment the Albanese Labor government is making to strengthen it. As a mum of three, I know there is never a convenient time for a child to need urgent medical care. It usually happens after school, on a Saturday afternoon or late in the evening, when your regular GP has closed.
It's the child who falls off their bike and needs some stitches. It's the broken wrist from weekend sport. It's the elderly parent who might have an infection that can't wait until next week.
These situations are urgent, but they are not life-threatening emergencies. For too long, Australians faced an impossible choice: wait days for a GP appointment or spend hours in an already busy emergency department. Labor recognised that gap in our health system, and we fixed it.
We committed to delivering 137 Medicare urgent care clinics right across the country, and we have delivered every single one. Today, Australians can walk into one of these clinics seven days a week with no appointment, receive high-quality urgent care and walk out without paying a cent. That is better for patients, better for families and better for our hospitals.
The results speak for themselves. More than 3.2 million Australians have already received treatment through a Medicare urgent care clinic. One in three patients has been a child under the age of 15.
Almost 30 per cent of visits happen on weekends, exactly when families struggle to access primary care. During the week, one in four patients attends after 5 pm, when many GP clinics have already closed. Perhaps the most telling statistic of all is that 45 per cent of patients said they would otherwise have gone to an emergency department or even called an ambulance.
That means hundreds of thousands of Australians getting the right care in the right place while helping relieve pressure on our emergency departments. In Queensland, these clinics have already provided care to more than 660,000 Queenslanders across 26 Medicare urgent care clinics. That's more than 660,000 occasions where Queensland families have received timely bulk-billed care.
In my own electorate of Bonner, we have seen exactly how valuable these services have become. My electorate is serviced by two Medicare urgent care clinics: the Carina-Carindale and Capalaba clinics. More than 13,000 patients have been through those doors since they opened in December.
They're not just statistics; they are parents who didn't have to choose between seeking medical care and paying the weekly grocery bill, they're children who receive treatment quickly instead of waiting hours in emergency and they're older Australians who get the care they need close to home. I recently welcomed the Minister for Health, Mark Butler, to the Carina-Carindale Medicare urgent care clinic.
We spoke with doctors, nurses and healthcare professionals, who told us loud and clear that these clinics are no longer just filling a gap; they have become an essential part of our local healthcare system. All 137 Medicare Urgent care clinics become a permanent part of Medicare from 1 July. That means families can have the confidence that these services are here to stay.
Four out of every five Australians now live within a 20-minute drive of a Medicare urgent care clinic. Around two million Australians every year are expected to use these clinics into the future. This is all part of Labor's $8.5 billion record investment to strengthen Medicare.
We've delivered the biggest investment in bulk-billing so more Australians can see a GP for free. In my local community, bulk-billing practices have doubled. We've also delivered record funding for our public hospitals, and we've made medicines cheaper—just $25 for a PBS script or $7.70 if you're on a concession card.
We're rolling out free Medicare mental health centres right across the country. Medicare is one of our proudest achievements. These clinics are making a real difference in the lives of so many Australians, and I'm so pleased to say that they are here to stay.
Only Labor will continue to ensure every Australian can access the quality care they deserve, regardless of their postcode or their ability to pay. That is Labor delivering for every single Australian.