STATEMENTS BY MEMBERS

Ms CLUTTERHAM (Sturt) (13:41): Labor is the party of Medicare and will always invest to ensure the system is strong, resilient and sustainable. Labor wants all Australians to have access to a free bulk-billing doctor, and our recent record investment in Medicare means that this year bulk-billing has increased in every state and territory. It's reached over 80 per cent of consultations in my home state of South Australia.

In my electorate of Sturt, the number of general practices that have moved to a fully bulk-billed model since November last year has doubled, and there are practices right across the electorate, from Payneham to Glen Osmond and from Highbury to Norwood. I recently had the opportunity to meet the general practitioners at the Erindale Medical & Health centre in the eastern part of Sturt.

The practice is led by Dr John Oloo, who migrated from Kenya to Australia some 14 years ago, initially setting up in Bordertown before relocating to Adelaide. Dr Oloo said that the choice to bulk-bill all of the clinic's patients was obvious. His global experience means he knows firsthand that affordable and accessible health care is precious.

He felt fortunate to be able to provide free, bulk-billed consultations to his patients, because he knows that not everyone is fortunate enough to have been born or live in this country, where free health care and the frameworks that support it are and will always be deliberately and prominently featured on the policy agendas of Labor governments.