Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Every week I'm inundated by calls from my constituents: the scared parents of young children; families and partners of those struggling with chronic illness; and healthcare workers who are overwhelmed with the demand for their services. They ring my office with harrowing stories of the strain at local GP clinics in our electorate. There simply aren't enough doctors in our towns to look after the needs of the communities. Parents with sick children cannot find doctors to treat them. The GPs are doing the very best that they can, but they're overworked, tired and struggling to keep up.

The Morrison government are failing rural electorates. In McEwen, families are faced with week-long waits for appointments to see a GP. The Morrison government want Australians to believe that their incentive program is going to fix this problem but it's not. What they're not telling people in the communities most in need, including those in McEwen, is that you aren't going to see any of this funding. We've written to the federal health minister to ask for urgent assistance for our region but have heard nothing in response. Meanwhile, every day people in McEwen are being turned away from GP clinics and emergency rooms simply because there are not enough doctors to care for them. This is not a level of medical care that we should accept here in Australia. You can never be sure of when you or your family might need to see a doctor, but if you do you'd want to know there's one available for you to be able to see. Time and time again the Morrison government has put politics above the lives of real Australians. The fact that the Morrison government has failed to ensure basic medical care for the people of McEwen and so many other Australians across our country is an embarrassment to this government. (Time expired)