Health Insurance Amendment (Incentive Payments and Other Measures) Bill 2026
Mr NEUMANN (Blair) (18:56): In 1972 to 1975, Bill Hayden was member for Oxley and my federal MP, and he was responsible for bringing in the forerunner of Medicare—it was called Medibank—against the opposition of the Liberal Party and the Country Party, as the Nationals then named themselves. It was ferociously opposed by doctors and health professionals who had vested interests at the time in opposing what they thought was socialised medicine.
Of course, when Malcolm Fraser became the prime minister in 1975, thereafter, he abolished that universality of Medibank, which was the idea that everyone in Australia, regardless of their circumstance, could get access to decent health care. When Hawke became the prime minister in 1983 and Neal Blewett was the minister for health at the time, they brought back Medibank in the way that it was originally intended, and they called it Medicare.
Until 1996, the coalition parties opposed ferociously the universality of Medicare. Once they got in, of course, they did everything they could to undermine it. Who can forget when Peter Dutton, the former member for Dickson, was the minister responsible for health care—he was voted the worst healthcare minister in the history of the Commonwealth of Australia—and he wanted to put co-payments in relation to it?
Tonight we saw the shadow treasurer—this is not a backbencher; this is a shadow treasurer—pouring scorn on the universality of Medicare. You could not listen to that speech and not understand that if he became Treasurer and deleted the adjective 'shadow', he would do everything he could to undermine Medicare. It's so obvious.
It was dripping with sarcasm and scorn. In addition to that, his position in relation to the crossbench was one of complete disrespect. The way he referred to them, and I'm not even going to repeat it, was a disgrace, frankly—that he, in that position, would call them that.
It was not just about the fact that there are different views or indeed different parties. To pour scorn on a parliamentarian that way is a disgrace. It was an absolute disgrace the way he carried on there.
In addition to that, what he said in terms of private health insurance and the premiums is completely disingenuous. What we did in the budget was align private health insurance premiums for persons over 65 with those of persons under 65. That's what we did.
To claim, as he did multiple times, that we're abolishing it all is completely untrue. He knows it, but he comes here—this is his shadow treasurer coming into this place and doing that—and he's not even talking about what's in the actual bill itself, going on the way he went on tonight. I say to people who may be listening in relation to that: look at what is said and how he's opposed to Medicare.
His view tonight, expressed in this speech, was that Medicare was really a safety net for people who couldn't afford it. His little libertarian view was that a universal Medicare was not to be adopted in this country. I think he should reflect on that, and people should listen very closely to what he had to say tonight.
I'm pleased to speak on this bill, and it was two Labor governments which created Medicare. I talked about that. The Albanese government is working to strengthen it and our primary healthcare system.
This is an important piece of legislation because Medicare is absolutely at the heart of primary health care in Australia. The idea that Australians can see their GP with just their Medicare card, not their credit card, is something that we believe in on this side of the chamber. Primary care incentive programs are essential to how this government is strengthening Medicare.
If those opposite became the government, based on that speech tonight, I can almost certainly guarantee they would abolish these incentives. We support better access, affordability and quality in our primary care system, and we provide financial incentives to Medicare providers through the Medicare system. These programs are an integral part of Medicare and are targeted support to healthcare providers to improve patient outcomes.
It's about expanding access to care, particularly in rural and regional areas, and encouraging innovation in service delivery. That includes the Bulk Billing Practice Incentive Program, which, based on the tone of that speech tonight from those opposite, the shadow treasurer would abolish. That program supports practices to provide bulk-billing Medicare services to their patients and the General Practice in Aged Care Incentive, which supports the delivery of high-quality primary care to older Australians in residential aged-care settings.
These programs are working. Bulk-billing rates are increasing in every state and territory since they were introduced last November. Thanks to this program, approximately 97 per cent of the population are within a 20-minute drive of a bulk-billing practice.
They include longstanding programs such as the practice incentive program, which supports quality improvements and better health outcomes through targeted payments to general practices and the Workforce Incentive Program, which supports a stronger, multidisciplinary primary care workforce, particularly in regional and rural electorates. Together, these incentives represent $1.4 billion of Australian government annual investment in the primary health services.
What we're doing here in this particular legislation is providing the legislative basis to tailor for the administration in compliance and oversight. The legislation addresses the gap where we haven't got a clear legislative framework for the Commonwealth primary health incentive payment program. That means, if those opposite ever came to this side of the chamber, they would have to pass some legislation to abolish it, and I'll be interested to see what their policy is at the next election.
The bill inserts a new part into the Health Insurance Act 1973 to provide a consistent statutory basis. This makes sure that the framework for these particular incentive programs are robust, and there are a number of key improvements in the legislation—greater certainty for healthcare providers, placing their programs on the basis that I said, establishing clear and consistent programs for participation and administration decision-making and enhancing integrity in government expenditure.
It provides better administration, protects public money better and, I think, maintains confidence. These things are really important. The bill also modernises the legislative architecture underpinning the programs.
It enables the use of automated administrative processes, supported, of course, with appropriate safeguards, transparency and oversight mechanisms. The provisions are designed to support efficient, high-volume administration with greater accountability and review rights. We expect technology to be used in decision-making, of course, but we need a cautious and deliberate approach.
The bill establishes some review mechanisms, including internal reconsideration processes and access to an independent review process such as the Administrative Review Tribunal. There will be a change in the bill, of course, to the name of the legislation. It will change from the Health Insurance Act 1973 to the Medicare Act, very appropriately, as a result of this bill.
This renaming will follow a transition period to allow for consequential amendments across Commonwealth, state and territory frameworks. The government has been conducting targeted stakeholder consultation along the way, before the introduction of this bill, and meeting with consumer groups, and with states and territories. The feedback we've got is strong support for the clearer legislative framework.
The bill gives effect to that, strengthening Medicare. These efforts have been hugely successful in my electorate of Blair, where bulk-billing rates continue to rise. The latest figures, from March this year, show that the number of bulk-billing GP practices in Blair has increased to 33, including 13 bulk-billing practices that were previously mixed billing practices.
This follows the Albanese government's record investment in Medicare in November last year. This includes the Riverlink Medical & Dental Centre, just near my electorate office in North Ipswich, which is operated by health provider ForHealth, which also runs the Ipswich Medicare Urgent Care Clinic. It was great to visit the centre in October last year with the state member for Ipswich West, Wendy Bourne, to announce that, from 1 November 2025, for the first time, bulk-billing incentives would be paid to GPs for every patient they bulk-bill.
Previously, these incentives were only available to children under 16 years of age and concession card holders. I also recall taking the Minister for Health and Ageing to the clinic a couple of years ago. In October last year we announced additional incentive payments available from 1 November for practices and GPs that bulk-bill every patient under the Bulk Billing Practice Incentive Program.
This is part of our $8.5 billion investment in Medicare—a record amount. It delivers on our 2025 federal election commitment for more bulk billing and more doctors in Australia. It was great to meet some of the very satisfied patients at the Riverlink medical centre and thank the hardworking staff for their valuable service.
Thanks to their efforts, Blair has a situation where the bulk-billing rate is now at 86.6 per cent, making it easier for people to see doctors for free. The Riverlink Medical & Dental Centre is something of a one-stop shop, because it's also the site of the Ipswich Medicare Urgent Care Clinic. These urgent care clinics are now a permanent feature of the health system.
This one in particular was a core local commitment of mine ahead of the 2022 election, and it's one of which I'm very proud. This vital new service has been hugely popular. With more than 38,000 visits, it has been delivering free urgent care and helping people over extended hours, seven days a week, since it opened in August 2023.
The shame about it is that the coalition didn't support it and were going to abolish these urgent care clinics if they'd won the last election. There is another urgent care clinic in Goodna in the Ipswich region, which is in the member for Oxley's electorate. This has been a godsend for people in the eastern suburbs of Ipswich.
We promised 137 of these services across the country and we've delivered all of them, with the last one opening in Caloundra in my home state of Queensland earlier this month. What's more, patients in Blair have also saved $18.5 million on 3.3 million scripts, with Labor's landmark cheaper medicines reform, which includes 60-day scripts, which those opposite opposed as well.
We are cutting the maximum price of PBS medicines to $25 and freezing the price at $7.70 for concession card holders for the rest of the decade. Rounding this out, the Albanese government is supporting the Queensland public hospital system, which includes Ipswich Hospital and the newly opened Mater Hospital Springfield with its public beds, with an historic funding deal that is delivering an additional $5.7 billion over five years, for a total of $51.4 billion.
When it comes to mental health services, the new Ipswich Medicare Mental Health Centre is making a huge difference on the ground, delivering more than 13,000 occasions of care to locals seeking support since I, along with the Assistant Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention, opened it in May 2024. It was great to drop in to the centre again earlier this year with the assistant minister to see how they were going.
This builds on the existing Ipswich headspace, which I was proud to open with the Minister for Health back in 2013. It was great to secure an additional $1.3 million in funding last year for this critical service for younger people in my electorate to increase staff and reduce waiting times. At the last election, we committed to opening a new headspace centre in Redbank Plains, the biggest suburb in Ipswich, to support the growing number of people aged 12 to 25 in this very fine multicultural suburb in the eastern suburbs of Ipswich.
The people in that community are seeking assistance. It's a very fast growing, culturally diverse community with lots of big primary schools and a high school, and I'm looking forward to seeing this commitment delivered in this term of the government. All of these figures show unequivocally that our initiatives to strengthen Medicare are working in my community in Ipswich, Somerset and Karana Downs.
They're changing the face of frontline care delivery and helping keep costs down for local patients, because this is good for their health and good for their hip pockets. We haven't just stopped the Medicare freefall under the previous government; we've reversed it and strengthened Medicare dramatically. We're delivering more bulk-billing, cheaper medicines and free urgent care to people across Ipswich, Somerset and Karana Downs.
Since Labor's landmark investment in strengthening Medicare, we've more than doubled the number of GP clinics that are now fully bulk-billing in Blair. Our investment in cheaper medicine is not only helping the hip pockets of locals; it's good for their health. The urgent care clinic I talked about is an absolute game changer and very popular in the city of Ipswich.
We're delivering affordable health care and helping people all the time with cost-of-living pressures. We built Medicare. People like Bill Hayden and Neal Blewett were the responsible ministers who did it.
I pay tribute to their fine work, and to Prime Ministers Whitlam and Hawke. These things are what Labor governments do. I thank the Minister for Health and Ageing for bringing forward this important legislation and for the outstanding work we're doing in terms of the wider health agenda, and I support this foundational reform.