Well, good morning everyone. And thank you all so much for coming today. Can I in particular, thank the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for coming to the Peninsula Medicare Urgent Care Clinic. A clinic where if you are too sick for the GP and not sick enough for the emergency department, you have somewhere to go with extended operating hours, a walk in clinic that’s completely bulk billed. Can I also thank Assistant Minister Emma McBride, my friend, the Member for Dobell, who’s a pharmacist also. A person with a healthcare background who serves our community on a daily basis. And also to Dr Raymond and Dr Mario, the practice owners here at Providence Medical Centre. Thank you and the team here at Providence for all the amazing work that you do here. The Albanese Government has made record investments in Medicare, whether it be in medicines, the affordability of medications, whether it be in bulk billing general practice, and to here in this Urgent Care Clinic. This is a clinic that will take pressure off our local emergency departments. And I know this firsthand, because I still practice in the emergency department. We’ve seen people that come in to the emergency department who are not quite sick enough to be there but are too sick to go to the general practitioner. So to have these clinics available both here in the electorate of Robertson and in the electorate of Dobell is a fantastic thing for our local community. And with that I’ll pass on to the Prime Minister.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Well, thanks very much Gordon. And when I was thinking about where I wanted to be on the 40th Birthday of Medicare, a great Labor foundation achievement, of which we are very proud. I thought there’s nowhere better than the Central Coast. The Central Coast that has two representatives, a doctor and a pharmacist who understand healthcare, and are such strong advocates for healthcare, not just in the region, but for Medicare being the heart of our medical system. Our healthcare system that is the envy of the world, and our healthcare system which we are determined to strengthen. And here on its 40th birthday, we celebrate, but we also recommit ourselves to further strengthening Medicare. Since we came to office just a short time ago, less than two years, we have decreased the price of medicines from January 1 last year. That has benefited Australians to the tune of $250 million, the price of something actually going down from $42.50 down to $30. We tripled the Bulk Billing Incentive. Now the first thing that we had to address was arresting the decline in bulk billing rates. We not only have done that, we’re starting to see the uptick of the record investment we put at the heart of our Budget announcement last year with the tripling of the incentive. An increase in bulk billing here on the Central Coast of 4 per cent. Increases around the country, particularly in disadvantaged areas and areas that had those low rates, starting to see the benefit of the investment that we have made. Now in addition to that, on GPs around the country, we’ve seen some 360,000 additional visits to the GP in just the months of November and December. That’s an extraordinary difference. But here today, we celebrate our Urgent Care Clinics. Now, we committed to 58 Urgent Care Clinics being opened. They’re all done. All 58 are operating, including two here on the Coast, one in the south here on the peninsular and one further up where the lakes are as well. So servicing this area, this area that has an elderly population at one end, but also has so many families, working families. And we know that one third of the people who’ve been seen by Urgent Care Clinics, are 14 and under. And talking with the wonderful nurses and doctors who are here with us today, they confirm that that is what is happening at this clinic as well. Here, we’ve seen, literally 1,400 patients seen just in November and rising. Each and every week, people coming into this centre, getting the care they need when they need it, and all they need is their Medicare card, not their credit card. This was a gap in the system. One of the things about the challenge of dealing with the health system is that the States essentially run the hospital system and the Commonwealth has more responsibility for primary healthcare. What this does, is to bridge that gap so that when little Johnny or Mary falls off the skateboard or off the bike, they have somewhere where they can go to get that care. Someone cuts themselves doing the barbecue, they can come, get stitched up, get looked at, without waiting in emergency departments taking the pressure off their emergency departments as well. So on the 40th anniversary of Medicare, I say I’ve never been prouder to be a Labor Prime Minister. A great legacy of the Government, great legacy of the Labor Party. We know that it should have been a longer anniversary because Gough Whitlam introduced Medibank. The Coalition came in and got rid of it. We introduced under the Hawke Government 40 years ago, Medicare. John Howard and the Coalition committed to getting rid of it. And when they were in office, of course, undermined bulk bulling. One of the first things they did when they came to office was Peter Dutton, tried to introduce a GP tax to get rid of bulk billing, to get rid of free service, to get rid of the heart of Medicare to rip it out with a GP tax every time people would visit the doctor. Not promised before the election, just brought in as a draconian measure as part of undermining the Medicare system. Well, that was rejected. We stopped that in the Senate. We have though had to deal with this well put it back money into the health system after billions of dollars was ripped out by the former Government. We regard Medicare as the heart of our health system. And we think there’s no greater responsibility that governments have than to look after people’s health, and to make sure that people can get the care they need when they need it. It’s a big difference between Australia and some other even advanced economies that we see around the world, where people don’t have a good income, they literally get left behind and can’t get the care that they need. So this is a very good initiative. At the National Cabinet meeting in December, we signed health and hospital agreements going right up to 2035. We committed to increase support for GPs and for primary healthcare as well, more than a billion dollars of additional investment. That will include our commitment that we will put in the Budget for more Urgent Care Clinics because this has been such a successful model. Thousands of people getting seen right around the country every week, getting the care they need, but also taking pressure off our emergency departments. I’ll ask Emma to make some comments and then we’re happy to take questions.
EMMA MCBRIDE, ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR RURAL AND REGIONAL HEALTH: Today is, as Dr Reid and the PM has said, marks the 40th anniversary of Medicare. It’s important to remember that before Medicare was introduced, one in seven Australians had health cover. The leading cause of bankruptcy in Australia before the introduction of Medicare was health care bills. Our Government has committed to strengthening Medicare. As the PM has said, the biggest investment in bulk billing since Medicare was introduced. More than $6 billion, including more than $3 billion tripling the Bulk Billing Incentive. We rolled out 58 Urgent Care Clinics right around Australia, more than 143,000 Australians have had access to urgent care and as the PM has said, 30 per cent of those under 15 and many under five. And on the Central Coast, we’ve also seen large numbers of older people getting that care, just with their Medicare card, close to heart. We’ve seen Urgent Care Clinics reducing pressure on emergency departments, as Dr Reid has said, at Townsville University Hospital, at Gosford Hospital, in Tasmania, right around the country we’re seeing the impact of this. And as the Assistant Minister for Rural and Regional Health, I am so pleased to see and having just come back from Queensland and visiting the Townsville Urgent Care Clinic, they have seen 1,600 patients in just six weeks, significantly reducing the impact on Townsville University Hospital. This investment by the PM is the biggest investment in strengthening Medicare since was introduced 40 years ago. It’s making a significant difference here on the Coast and right around Australia. And particularly in those regional communities that most needed access to care affordably and closer to home. We’ve been asked about doctors, and we know that we need to make general practice more attractive to graduates. We’re doing that by showing the Government values general practice. We’re introducing Single Employer Models, so that a general practice registrar can continue from working in a hospital into primary care. We’re also looking at both reviewing the distribution levers and the scope of practice. So we’re looking at what GPs can do, and where they can do it, and how the Government can best support them to do that. We’re also wiping the uni debt of GPs and nurse practitioners working in the most rural and remote parts of Australia. And just last week, we introduced a new WIP incentive for rural generalists who specialise in emergency medicine, or other specialties like mental health and obstetrics and gynaecology. Our Government is committed to making sure that healthcare is affordable and accessible, close to home for all Australians. So thank you, and I’ll hand back to the PM.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister just on tax. Labor elder Bill Kelty has called on you to tax assets and crackdown on negative gearing in order to lower income taxes even further. Are you open to that?
PRIME MINISTER: We’re focused on the plan that we actually have before the Parliament we’ll be introducing extra. This is a plan to give every Australian a tax cut, not just some. And here on the Coast, what that means literally is a 201,000 people will get a tax cut on July 1. More than 86 per cent of taxpayers on the Coast will get more than what the former Government planned to give them. This is the right change being done for the right reasons. We know that low and middle income earners are under financial pressure. And what we’ve done here is on top of what we’ve previously done. The cheaper medicines, increasing the Bulk Billing Incentive, cheaper child care that had an 11 per cent reduction in the cost of childcare on average across the country. Fee Free TAFE with 300,000 Australians getting Fee Free TAFE. When we look at the measures that we did on the Energy Price Relief Plan, that we introduced with the Perrottet Government here in New South Wales, but was opposed by Peter Dutton and the Coalition. That’s our plan and it stands in stark contrast to an Opposition, a Coalition that’s become the Noalition. They just say no to everything. They said no to this plan before they knew what it was. And then they said they’d reverse and have increased, higher taxes, for 12 million Australians. And now, I’m not quite sure what their position is. But, they’re going to have to decide. Because, we have a clear plan that will help middle Australia in particular to provide that additional support. This was not an easy decision, but it was the right decision.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, are you open to negotiating with the Greens on matters such JobSeeker and dental in Medicare if you need their support for the stage three tax cuts?
PRIME MINISTER: We will put this plan forward on its merits. People in the House of Representatives and the Senate can determine their view as to whether they want to provide increased support to low and middle income earners or not. We will always look at budget measures, but what we will not be doing is trading across different issues. We are focused on this, this stands on it’s merits. People can decide whether they want to leave people behind, all those people earning under $45,000 will not get a cent under the former Government’s proposal. Working families will not be the priority, whether low income earners or middle income earners. What we have is a plan that will double the tax cuts for people on the average wage and more than double the tax cuts for working families, such as those on the Coast here where Mum and Dad are working. The average income for a two person working family is $130,000. They would have got $1,000 under the old system, under the proposed system they will be $2,600. So, I would urge people across the House of Representatives and the Senate, we’ll treat people with respect, as we always do.
JOURNALIST: Given the tax cuts, falling inflation and wages, will things get easier for Australian households in the second half of this year?
PRIME MINISTER: We have been focused on making a difference. And, that has been a focus, lifting up living standards. You left one thing off there in that question, which is the increased wages as well. What we are seeing is the fight against inflation has in front and centre. What we have done here is to have cost of living relief while putting downward pressure on inflation. We saw the benefit yesterday. Quite extraordinary data, really, to make a substantial difference. Inflation moderating to 4.1 per cent in the year to the December quarter. Now, that was down from 5.4 in the September quarter. Bear this in mind, when we came to government, in the March 2022 quarter, the last quarter solely presided over by the Coalition, the inflation rate for just a quarter was 2.1 per cent. Two point one per cent in just one quarter. Their response to that was to put more money into the economy in the March Budget, to be fiscally irresponsible in order to try to secure support, most of which ran out as soon as people voted in the May election. That was what they did. We have not done that, we have been fiscally responsible. We have produced the first Budget surplus in 15 years in order to put the downward pressure on inflation. But we’ve have done something else as well. We have seen not one but two increases in the minimum wage with submissions from the Government saying that people should not fall behind. We also have seen real wages increase in two quarters in a row. So we’re seeing real wages lift while we are providing cost of living relief through these tax cuts, while we are providing other measures to provide cost of living relief. We want people to earn more and we want them to keep more of what they earn. This has been achieved while keeping unemployment at a very historic low. That has been our Government’s focus and we have done all of this while there has been this noise on the other side with a Coalition that wanted to do the opposite in healthcare. Peter Dutton not only cut money out of health, tried to introduce a GP tax and said the bulk billing was unsustainable. He also wanted to increase the cost of medicines. That is the alternative. We will continue to be constructive. But I would say to Peter Dutton, if he cannot come up with a single constructive idea, just get out of the way. People need these tax cuts and that is what we will have before the Parliament and he will have to make a decision as to where he stands.
JOURNALIST: The Queensland Premier says that the Reserve Bank needs to start cutting interest rates now to take pressure on households and that banks should cut their rates first without even waiting for the RBA. Do you hold that view?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the Reserve Bank of Australia are an independent body and the Government doesn’t direct them on what to do.
JOURNALIST: Here on the Coast, the Avoca Drive upgrade is a critical project. You have committed $100 million for it. When will we see that money allocated in the Federal Budget?
PRIME MINISTER: It’s there. We have that money allocated. We had announcements, including in January of last year for Avoca Drive and I know that in Avoca Drive because I follow Dr Reid’s social media. And I know that there are surveys taking place now about the expansion there at Avoca Drive. I know that it’s a clog point there and it will be a really important project. We want to roll out infrastructure projects right around the country just as we’ll be widening the Pac Highway just up the road near Wyong as well. I am someone who, when I was last in Government as the Minister for Infrastructure, we funded, together with the New South Wales Government, $405 million from each level of government for the NorthConnex project that I drove on to get up here this morning. That has made an incredible difference. That would not have occurred without the Federal Labor Government being in office. That was an important project that has transformed the region and transformed travel from the Coast to Sydney for people, whether they’re going for work or for casual visits to visit Sydney. I know that it’s made an enormous difference to people here, to travel times, and has also made an enormous difference to productivity. Trucks have to take that route of course, compulsorily, that was part of the deal and arrangements that we put in place. And what that has done is take those trucks off suburban roads, which means by the way, road safety is a big beneficiary as well.
JOURNALIST: Another major infrastructure project, one that gets talked a lot about in the lead up to an election, is high speed rail. But the latest $80 million for a business case for high speed rail between Newcastle and Sydney. What exactly is in it? Because we’ve heard so many promises and commitments.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, this is real dollars to do the proper planning for this project. The problem, we have a lost decade that we’re dealing with. Now, there was a high speed rail planning authority going to be established. I had, when I was the Minister, I had people like Tim Fisher, former Leader of the National Party, a great Australian, who now has left us, a former Deputy Prime Minister. He was part of the board and the study that undertook the work.
JOURNALIST: A question for Dr Reid if I may. You said last February that you were making representations to the Minister with regards to dental care. On the 40th anniversary of Medicare is it time that we see dental in Medicare?
DR REID: So during that time, I had some constituents write to me with regards to the inclusion of dentistry or dental services into Medicare and we have made those representations to the Minister for Health. But at the moment, our Government, the Prime Minister’s focus, my focus here locally, is to ensure that we are really supporting our primary care and urgent care facilities. Primary care, general practice and urgent care is one of the biggest ways that we can take pressure off our local emergency departments. That’s one of the biggest ways that we can do that. I know from practising in the emergency department right now that we are seeing patients in that triage category four and five, those people who are not sick enough for the emergency but too sick for the general practitioner. And by our record investments in these Urgent Care Clinics, in strengthening Medicare, patients here on the Central Coast and right across Australia have access to world class universal health care. And I’m very proud of that achievement here on the Central Coast. The Prime Minister and Assistant Minister Emma McBride have both made comments that the number of bulk billed presentations for patients presenting to the GP have gone up. 10,000 presentations here on the Central Coast, a 5 per cent increase from that last decade that the Prime Minister talked about. The belly being ripped out of Medicare by the Coalition, by Peter Dutton, a GP tax and emergency department tax would absolutely crippled this nation’s healthcare infrastructure. So the fact that the Prime Minister here, the Assistant Minister, and our Government as a whole is making these record investments into Medicare and general practice services across the country is something that I’m incredibly proud of and will continue to fight for into the future.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, can we also get your reaction to the death of Michael Egan, the former Treasurer of New South Wales?
PRIME MINISTER: Michael Egan was a friend of mine for a very long time. He served as Treasurer in New South Wales, over the period of the Carr Government. I worked for the Premier Bob Carr and I was proud to have done so in the early period of that government. Michael Egan was a great character. He was a great Labor true believer. He had respect right across the political spectrum. And today is a sad day. I pass on my condolences to his family, and to his many, many friends. He’s someone who has an enormous legacy. These jobs are not easy. And what you want to do, when you depart, is to be able to look back with pride on what you have done, on making a difference, because the personal sacrifices that these two people are making next to me, Emma and Gordon, is something that I know they’re conscious of. But I know that they can be proud of what they’re doing here. Michael Egan can be very proud. All of his family and friends can be proud of the legacy which he leaves. He had my enormous respect. He’s someone who I engaged with personally, he was a source of advice, as well. He encouraged me in my political career and that was something that was really positive. None of us get here by ourselves. We rely upon people to be mentors to give us advice. And I’ve been fortunate to have that in my life and Michael Egan was one of those people.
Can I just conclude with making a statement about Senator Linda White. Senator Linda White, from Victoria, is dealing with some health issues at the moment. She will take leave from the Senate for the period ahead while she deals with those. And I’ve spoken with the Leader of the Opposition, and I thank him for agreeing to have a pair while Linda White takes leave to deal with these issues. Our thoughts of the Labor family are with Linda, we wish her well and we wish her a speedy recovery and look forward to her returning to the Senate. She has been a major contributor as chair of various inquiries, and has made a very strong contribution in her short time in the Senate. I would ask the media, would make this statement, to respect her privacy at this time, while she deals with these issues. Thanks very much for joining us here today. It’s always great to be back on the Coast. I’ll see you here on the Coast in a couple of weeks’ time. In 15 days’ time from today I’ll be back here on the Coast, it’s always very welcoming. And just a final shout out to the people who are delivering the services. The nurses who are here, the doctors, the people who are on the front desk. The people and others from the organisation that’s providing this service. You can all be really proud that you are making a difference to people’s lives. Thanks very much.
