GORDON REID:
Good morning, everyone. And thank you all for coming here today to Providence Medical Centre. Just recently in the Federal Budget, we committed significant funding to tripling the bulk billing incentive. That's going to make it easier for people and more affordable for people to see a doctor. Here on the Central Coast, we know it's never been more expensive to see a doctor and also get into a doctor in a timely fashion. What that results in is people presenting to our emergency departments, putting pressure on our hospital systems and our hospital staff. And that's something that under an Albanese Labor Government, we are trying to rectify, particularly here on the Central Coast. It's one of the main things that I ran on in the in the federal election. It's access to health care, it's access to affordable health care. And with me today, we have Jim Chalmers, the Treasurer of Australia, who handed down the second Budget, which had a significant focus on health care. And for the Central Coast, that means so much - for people to be able to access their doctor and to take pressure off the hospital system. And I do want to thank the fantastic doctors and the fantastic nurses here at Providence Medical Centre for having us today. Thank you, thank you so much. They do such incredible work for our community, people from all walks of life coming in here to access health care. We wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the great work that Providence does. And so with that, I'll hand over to the Treasurer, Jim Chalmers.
JIM CHALMERS:
Thanks very much, Gordon. It is wonderful to be here on the Central Coast with Dr Gordon Reid and the wonderful people here at this clinic. We want more like this, and that's the motivation behind our game changing investments in bulk billing and strengthening Medicare. We know that people are under the pump and that's why the key motivation of the Budget we handed down last week, was all about taking some of the edge off these cost‑of‑living pressures without adding to inflation. And the three parts of the household budget which are under the most pressure are energy, rent and out‑of‑pocket health costs. And that's why we want to see more bulk billing. It's why we've put our money where our mouth is – three and a half billion dollars in new investments in the Budget to incentivise more bulk billing, like what we see here on the Central Coast at this clinic here. Our motivation here is to make it easier and cheaper for people to see a doctor. That's why we're putting three and a half billion dollars into that as part of a $5.7 billion set of new investments in strengthening Medicare. We know that out‑of‑pocket health costs are a big part of the pressure on local families and local pensioners and right around Australia. And that's why we're putting so much investment into it. This was really the centrepiece of the Budget on Tuesday night ‑ more investment to make it easier and cheaper to find a bulk billing doctor so that we can take some of the edge off cost‑of‑living pressures without adding to inflation. I wanted to thank Gordon for his advocacy. This wouldn't be possible without a Labor Government in Canberra, and that wouldn't be possible without Gordon Reid representing you so well. Here with Emma McBride as well, on the Central Coast of New South Wales. We understand the pressures that local people are under. And what we've done in the Budget is do what we can to take some of that pressure off, whether it's out‑of‑pocket health costs, rent, energy, and in other ways as well. Happy to take some questions.
JOURNALIST:
In terms of addressing the great health needs here on the Central Coast to urgent care clinics - the Government's already pledged that - whereabouts specifically is that up to? I understand that expressions of interest closed last month on that, so where are we up to?
REID:
So, just for the viewers and listeners here today, the urgent care clinics - there has been two committed, one for the electorate of Robertson and one for the electorate of Dobell. And what they are, is if you're too sick for the GP, but not sick enough to go to the emergency department - so it's those middle zone patients that are a significant load on the presentations to the emergency department. It'll be able to treat adults and kids. It'll be bulk billed and have extended operating hours. And it's going to be designed so that it takes pressure off our GPs and pressure off our emergency departments. So at the moment, you're right, the expressions of interests are being done through the Primary Health Network. So through the Central Coast Primary Health Network, and we're currently in discussions with the Primary Health Network as to how we progress that forward because two have been committed for the area, and we want to see them up and running as quickly as possible.
JOURNALIST:
Do you know whether there's been much interest?
REID:
So there's been interest right across the Central Coast. But again, that's what the PHN is going to be doing. They're going to continue to be doing across the region, to make sure those clinics get up and running as soon as possible.
JOURNALIST:
Mr Chalmers, some local GPs have said that despite the Medicare spending in the Budget, that they still won't be able to pass on those costs for bulk billing, what's your response to them? And what's your message to them?
CHALMERS:
Well, we're really worried about the declining bulk billing around Australia, and here on the Central Coast as well. We want to make it easier for people to find a bulk billing doctor, and the best place to start is with this multibillion dollar investment in tripling the bulk billing incentives. So more doctors do what the doctors here do, which is bulk bill local patients. And so here, as I understand it, the incentive goes from around $6 to around $20. The tripling of the incentive means that we will see, we'll try and arrest the decline in bulk billing, we're trying to encourage and incentivise more doctors to bulk bill because local people need and deserve bulk billing doctors, so that they’re not paying these very high out‑of‑pocket health costs when they get sick.
JOURNALIST:
In Newcastle, there's zero bulk billing clinics. It's one of the worst spots in Australia. So, if doctors switch again, won't they be behind again, is this incentive too little too late?
CHALMERS:
We're very concerned about the situation in Newcastle. And this is an issue that has been raised with the Government, the Health Minister, myself, the Prime Minister, by our local members around Newcastle and the Hunter. It's a very concerning situation, and the choice we had was whether to sit by and not make these new investments in strengthening Medicare and incentivising bulk billing, or to come to the table with a multi‑billion dollar investment, in an otherwise tight Budget, which shows that strengthening Medicare is among our highest priorities. And where that will make the most difference is in areas where we are particularly concerned about the decline in bulk billing, in some cases, the disappearance of bulk billing, and Newcastle is obviously one of those areas.
JOURNALIST:
Just some questions from my parliamentary colleagues in Canberra, Mr Chalmers - are you reconsidering any elements of the housing policy? Backbenchers are expressing it needs work, especially [inaudible]?
CHALMERS:
We've got a broad and ambitious housing policy, and we want to see it pass the parliament. Our housing policy has a number of elements - the Housing Australia Future Fund, increasing the cap for community housing providers, extending the $1.6 billion Housing and Homelessness Agreement with the states, the Housing Accord that I brought the states and territories, the building industry, the big investors together to try and build a million new homes, affordable homes between next year and 2029. So we've already got a broad and ambitious housing policy, it's focused on building more homes. Vacancy rates are too low and rents are too high. And the answer to both of those things is to build more affordable stock and that's the priority in our housing policy, at the same time as we are providing the biggest increase in Commonwealth Rent Assistance for three decades to help people with the costs of rent, which are a big driver of the cost‑of‑living pressures that people are facing.
JOURNALIST:
What do you make of Julijana Todorovic's comments [inaudible]?
CHALMERS:
Obviously, I don't agree with that. And as I've just said, our housing policy is broad and comprehensive. We want to see the Housing Australia Future Fund pass the parliament, we want to see an end to the political games over that, so that we can build 30,000 social and affordable homes, including for women and children fleeing violence. So we want to see the parliament pass that, that's a big part of our housing agenda. But it's not the only part. I've run through some of the other elements as well, including a boost to Commonwealth Rent Assistance to try and take some of the sting out of these high rents that people are facing, whether it's here or right around Australia.
JOURNALIST:
Housing and homelessness has sort of reached a crisis point in the regions. Is there a strategy, a focus on regional Australia?
CHALMERS:
We've got a policy to build more homes, not just in our cities and suburbs, but in our regional towns as well. And that's why we're trying to build 30,000 new homes with our Housing Australia Future Fund. That's why we're trying to build a million homes over five years from next year, when it comes to our Housing Accord. It's why we want to extend the Housing and Homelessness Agreement with the states. It's why the Budget on Tuesday night had new tax breaks announced for build‑to‑rent properties, so we can build more affordable rental properties near to where the jobs and opportunities are being created. So the regions are a big focus of our housing policy. Our housing policy is already broad and comprehensive. It has a number of elements and we want to see an important part of that, the Housing Australia Future Fund, pass through the Senate as soon as possible.
JOURNALIST:
How will the location of those future houses be decided?
CHALMERS:
It depends what element of the policy we're talking about. But obviously there's an element of cooperation and collaboration with states and territories, and that's part of the story. We want to make sure that we get the zoning and planning right, which is largely the responsibility of the states and territories. And so, we will work closely with them. I have been already over the course of the last 12 months. My colleague, Julie Collins, the Housing Minister, has been doing likewise. We want these homes to be well located. We want to build more homes. We want them to be well located. We want them to be affordable, and near to where the jobs and opportunities are being created, including in the regions.
JOURNALIST:
Do we have any information coming through about whether any Australians are affected by the fire in Wellington?
CHALMERS:
I've seen some reports about the fire in Wellington, and obviously our heart goes out to all of those New Zealand brothers and sisters who are impacted by it. It obviously looks like a horrible tragedy. There will be more information provided in due course.
JOURNALIST:
Peter Dutton says his Jobseeker working hours proposal costs in the order of $2.3 billion. But the Government has got some different figures. How much do you anticipate his proposal will cost?
CHALMERS:
A couple of things about that. Peter Dutton announced this a week ago and still can't tell us for sure how much it costs. What an absolute shambles. I listened to Peter Dutton and his policy fall apart on radio this morning. He announced a policy last week, a week later he can't tell the Australian people how much it costs. He says it's about an extra couple of billion dollars, but he's not sure. And at a time when his main critique of the Budget is that it spends too much, he's saying that he wants to add another couple of billion dollars of spending. And he says he's still trying to work it out. This is the kind of shambles that you see when an Opposition leader is scratching around for something to say in Budget week. If he genuinely cared about getting more people into work, we would have heard something from him in the almost decade that he was in government. He was scratching around for something to say in Budget week. He didn't cost it, he didn't finalise the costings, he still can't tell us how much it costs. It has fallen down all around him in the usual shambolic heap. Thanks very much.