STATEMENTS BY SENATORS

Senator WHITEAKER (Western Australia) (13:38): Labor is focused on delivering real change. Not too long ago, we announced that we have opened every single one of our Medicare urgent care clinics. That's 137 fully bulk-billed urgent care clinics right around the country, and it is through this work that you can see the true priorities of our government.

That is not the end of it. Thanks to our government's record investment in bulk-billing, 84 per cent of practices around the country are now fully bulk billed. In my home state of Western Australia, we have seen that the number of practices fully bulk-billing appointments has gone up to 240.

That includes 127 new practices that were previously mixed billing. This means that 32 per cent of practices in the state are completely free. In the electorate of Canning, in the south metropolitan and southern regional area of Western Australia, we can see that that number is even higher, with 41 per cent of practices bulk-billing every single patient.

In the Peel region, this builds upon the efforts of the state government, who last week announced the start of construction of the brand new Mandurah hospital, adding more beds, expanding access to health services and ensuring more people can access the care that they need, which is exactly what the growing suburbs and regions of Western Australia need. This is part of a record $5.5 billion investment in health.

I want to congratulate my friends Rhys Williams and Lisa Munday, the members for Mandurah and Dawesville, who have long advocated for this new hospital. This is an example of state and Commonwealth Labor governments working together to deliver real change for health care for Australians.