Melissa Parke (Fremantle, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

A couple of weeks ago I visited the Freo Street Doctor service with the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. I cannot stress enough the importance of this kind of service, which is administered by Fremantle Medicare Local. The Freo Street Doctor provides primary health care for low-income Australians and people facing chronic and severe disadvantage, many of them Indigenous. Unfortunately, the Abbott government's lack of commitment to Medicare Locals is causing uncertainty and concern about the loss of such services.

Discussion of a GP co-payment is another example of the government's failure to understand the essential features and value of genuinely accessible universal public health care. A doctor in my electorate has written to me today to highlight the inequity of applying a co-payment. He said:

I'm a GP, not a health economist or policy expert, but the proposal sounded dubious to me, so I turned to the evidence. The short version of what I found is this: Are co-payments likely to reduce GP visits? Yes. Are they likely to deter only 'unnecessary' GP visits? No. Might they have adverse consequences for public health? Yes. Will these adverse consequences be felt by everyone? No, they'll be felt more by those who are sicker and poorer.

WA is a high-cost environment with a rapidly growing population, and putting in further barriers to primary health care will inevitably lead to poorer health outcomes, especially for low- and middle-income households. This of course has preventative health aspects as well, with consequences for the entire system. The government simply does not understand the critical value and key principles of a universal public health system. (Time expired)