QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Senator McALLISTER (New South Wales—Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme) (14:50): Senator Polley, I thank you for drawing attention to what is happening today. Today is a good day for Australia's families, and it's a great day for our health system because the Albanese Labor government is delivering a record $220 billion to our public health system.

In your home state, Senator Polley, Tasmanians will receive $5.1 billion in total hospital funding over the next five years. Across the country, there is three times more additional funding for public hospitals than under the Morrison government's last five-year agreement. Why are we making these investments?

Because there is a lot to do. The previous Liberal government spent nearly a decade neglecting the health system that Australians depend on. Well, that was their choice.

This government makes a very different choice. We are choosing to give nurses and doctors the resources that they need to do their jobs. We are choosing to ensure that Australians, wherever they live and wherever they come from, can better access the care that they need.

We are choosing to make that care available before Australians even reach the hospital door, with 137 Medicare urgent care clinics open across this country, providing bulk-billed care. From today, they are a permanent feature of Medicare. There are eight Medicare urgent care clinics in your home state of Tasmania, Senator—all permanent.

We hear from families, workers and hospital staff about just how important these clinics are. They are taking pressure off our emergency departments. We saw how those opposite ridiculed Medicare urgent care clinics and called it 'wasteful spending'.

The three million Australians who have walked through the doors of these clinics have gotten free urgent care, and they disagree. (Time expired) The PRESIDENT: Senator Polley, first supplementary?