Medicare
Transcript
Ms WARE (Hughes) (11:27): I rise to speak on this motion in relation to Medicare. I thank the member for Solomon for giving me the opportunity to speak on this very important motion.
As 2024 marks 40 years since the introduction of Medicare, this is an appropriate time for us as Australians to acknowledge that Medicare has been transformative in the area of public health. But it is also an opportunity for us to look at how much better we can do in this space. I particularly want to talk about my electorate of Hughes, which is down in the Sutherland shire in southern Sydney and also now into south-west Sydney.
I have sat here for 2½ years now and heard this government talk about the fact that they now have more GPs. I heard the member for Paterson mention that as well. That may be the experience in her electorate but it is certainly not the experience in my electorate, and it is certainly not the experience in my electorate that there is more bulk-billing occurring. There has been a 20 to 30 per cent drop in bulk-billing in 2½ years in the Sutherland shire and in south-west Sydney under this Labor government, under Minister Butler. I've done the research on this, and I'd be very happy to again send Minister Butler the names of every single GP practice within my electorate that no longer bulk-bills.
We return to the motion and also to the position of those in government that say they have increased the number of GPs. Wattle Grove Family Medical Practice, which is in my electorate and serves the local area, has over 3,000 patients on its books, and Dr John Stanford and I have been advocating to the health minister on this issue to no avail. He refuses to meet with me on this and refuses to assist my patients and my electorate. Many of those patients are veterans' families because the medical centre is located in Holsworthy. It simply requires a change of designation from inner metropolitan to outer metropolitan; that would be enough to restore a GP, a registrar, to that practice. While I have all the respect in the world for the honourable member for Solomon, it would be helpful perhaps if he could have a talk to the Minister for Health and Aged Care to find out why it is that the health minister does not care about my electorate there, around Holsworthy and Wattle Grove.
While we are talking about this government not caring, I want to talk about vision health in south-west Sydney, particularly in and around Campbelltown Hospital. I have written similarly to the state health minister and the federal health minister on this. Formerly optometrists in south-west Sydney could refer patients with glaucoma and cataracts for surgery at the Sydney and Sydney Eye Hospital. That option has been cut under this government. Further, this government has said that not only can optometrists not refer patients to the Sydney and Sydney Eye Hospital but patients have to go to Liverpool Hospital and the referral can only be through a GP or an ophthalmologist. There are people in my electorate around south-western Sydney who cannot afford to go and see an ophthalmologist or have to wait months and months, sometimes years, to see one. People in my electorate are losing their vision because this government has changed its position on vision health in south-western Sydney. I particularly want to thank Clinton Maynard on 2GB. I was speaking to him the other morning at about 4.30. He's an insomniac, similarly to me.
Lastly, I want to talk about pelvic pain clinics. I acknowledge that this government has established some pelvic pain clinics for women. I've been advocating for a pain clinic for women where endometriosis, menstrual pain, menopause, PCOS and all of the many other issues that are unique to women could be dealt with in the one place. I have been told that women in my electorate can go to Mittagong—Mittagong is 90 kilometres from the centre of my electorate—or they can go to Leichhardt. It's more than 40 kilometres from Macquarie Fields to Leichhardt. This government must do better on Medicare.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Mrs Andrews ): The time allotted for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for a later hour.