QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE
Senator McALLISTER (New South Wales—Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme) (15:21): I thank Senator Brown, who, of course, is a staunch advocate for public health and for Tasmania. When we are talking about access to health care, the Albanese Labor government's proposition is very simple: when you're sick, the only card that you should need is your Medicare card, and we are delivering real change for Australians.
With just a Medicare card, more Australians are seeing a GP for free—with just a Medicare card. Under those opposite, bulk-billing was in freefall. But, thanks to this government's historic investment in Medicare, bulk-billing has now risen to 84 per cent, and that means parents don't have to worry about taking a sick child to the doctor.
It means that workers don't have to choose between seeing a GP and keeping more of what they earn. And that's not all. With their Medicare card, Australians can get free urgent care at one of 137 Medicare urgent care clinics around the country.
Four out of five Australians live within a 20-minute drive of a Medicare urgent care clinic. Those opposite, of course, call this wasteful spending. We know that it is an essential part of an available, accessible, affordable healthcare system, and it's why we've made Medicare urgent care clinics permanent.
The thing is, senators, you don't have to take my word for it. We can ask, in fact, any Tasmanian senator, Senator Brown, because when their Liberal deputy premier, Guy Barnett, needed urgent care after a game of tennis, where did he go? Well, he went off to the Medicare urgent care clinic, one of eight Medicare urgent care clinics right across Tasmania.
That is what Medicare looks like when it is working for all Australians, and that is what Labor governments do. Senator Scarr: Why are you disclosing his personal medical information? The PRESIDENT: Senator Scarr, come to order.
Senator McALLISTER: They strengthen Medicare, they make health care more affordable, and they deliver real change for Australians. The PRESIDENT: Senator Scarr, it is not the role in here for a senator on the opposition backbench to try and out-yell a minister. I asked you to come to order.
You were so loud I don't even think you heard me. Senator Colbeck interjecting— The PRESIDENT: Senator Colbeck, I do not need to hear from you. Senator Brown, first supplementary?