Ms. Byrnes (Cunningham) (14:51): Thank you, Speaker. My question is for the Minister for Health. How is the Albanese Labor Government's investment in Medicare Urgent Care clinics helping Australians to get urgent care when they need it? How do urgent care clinics help strengthen Medicare after a decade of cuts and neglect?
Min. Butler (Hindmarsh) (14:51): [That] reminds us, Mr Speaker, the leadership, the frontbench of those opposite, hate urgent care clinics. Their backbench are very supportive, constantly advocating for one, sending us emails, starting petitions. If only their frontbench let them get what they want. I thank the member for Cunningham for her question and her advocacy in Wollongong.
She is a fierce advocate for strengthening Medicare, and I have to say a fierce advocate for better aged care services. She understands the aged care sector incredibly well and is constantly talking to me and to the aged care minister about how we can improve things for her community. I thank her for that. I also know that she is incredibly appreciative of the record investment in bulk billing. Can I say in just the last week, the number of bulk billing clinics in her electorate has not just doubled or tripled, it's quadrupled in a week. In just a week. We saw a big increase in a neighbouring electorate of Whitlam, a big increase in bulk billing for the people of the Illawarra.
She's also a great advocate for the Corrimal Urgent Care Clinic, Wollongong, which has already seen 30,000 from her community, all fully bulk billed, getting high quality urgent care. She pointed out there was a particularly high profile may pent there recently. The health reporter from the Sydney Morning Herald who a piece this morning. 'I thought Albo's Urgent Care Clinics were a waste until I needed one'. With all of the zeal you expect from a convert, he went on to describe a very unfortunate incident where his surfboard went into his foot and cut it considerably.
On the weekend he went into the Urgent Care Clinic, he found it on his phone, and received incredibly high quality urgent care, free of charge. I thank him for it. He's written this fine piece promoting what is a terrific initiative for a stronger Medicare for the whole country. So, we have two urgent care clinics in the Illawarra already - 30,000 people through the Corrimal clinic, 20,000 through the Dapto clinic, in the neighbouring electorate of Whitlam and rounding it out in the coming couple of weeks we will be in a position to announce the provider for the Shellharbour Urgent Care [Clinic] in the southern Illawarra as well.
That is just one of the 50 Urgent Care Clinics we promised across the country at the election. Three of them are already open. I'm confident the rest will be open over the course of this summer, hopefully as many as possible by Christmas and once that is done, two million people, like the health reporter from the SMH, every year will get that high quality care.
