Ms PANOPOULOS (7:54 PM) —I rise this evening to commend the work of the Wodonga Regional Health Service and, in particular, the very innovative Chief Executive Officer, Dr Andrew Watson. Many in this House would know that the Wodonga hospital opened a co-located bulk-billing clinic 100 yards down from the Wodonga hospital on 2 February, which happened to be the day after the $5 bulk-billing incentive for GPs came into effect as part of the MedicarePlus package announced by the Minister for Health and Ageing last year. In fact, I was advised by Dr Watson that the Wodonga Regional Health Service's new bulk-billing clinic would not be in operation were it not for the $5 bulk-billing incentive offered under the government's MedicarePlus package. The incentives are even greater after even more generous improvements to the MedicarePlus package were announced today by the health minister.

I was both delighted and honoured that the health minister made good his promise of late last year and visited Wodonga last Friday to meet several doctors groups in my electorate and to officially inspect the new bulk-billing clinic and meet with the GPs who are consulting there. The positive visit highlighted the many practical benefits that are already flowing to the border community through the government's $2.4 billion MedicarePlus initiative. When the health minister visited Wodonga's new MedicarePlus inspired bulk-billing clinic, he asked the clinic's GPs, `Well, what message do you have for me as the minister for health?' The reply from one doctor was, `We believe that MedicarePlus is a step in the right direction.' The north-east is also benefiting from the MedicarePlus initiatives related to the recruitment of overseas trained doctors and the recruitment, retention and training of more GPs to practice here. The border region will also benefit through its eligibility for the Rural Locum Relief Program.

A significant success story in our region is the federally funded Bogong Regional Training Network, which is now producing real dividends for the constituents of my electorate, through the fact that 43 doctors are this year completing their training in the wider region compared with fewer than 10 before the establishment of Bogong. The Director of Medical Services at North East Health Wangaratta, John Elcock, said:

I commend the work of Dr Pat Giddings, the Regional Director of Bogong, who met with the minister on Friday, in developing this program into the success story that it is today. I was pleased to show the minister the strength and innovation for which Indi's medical practitioners and providers are renowned. I was pleased that the minister was able to see for himself the clear and tangible benefits that the MedicarePlus package is already providing to the people of Indi.

The Labor Party talks a lot about saving Medicare, yet a closer scrutiny of its policy shows that it simply does not have the answers to many of the issues facing rural medical practice. All Labor is offering to deal with the GP shortage is an underfunded scheme, without any idea where the doctors are to come from. Labor says that it will increase the Medicare rebate to 100 per cent of the scheduled fee, but we will have to wait until 2007 for this, whereas the government's $5 bulk-billing incentive is already in place and is already paying dividends—as the Wodonga bulk-billing clinic is surely an indication—and this incentive will increase to $7.50 from 1 May.

I am fortunate enough to be able to rely on the guidance of experts and well-meaning constituents from my electorate, and one senior medical practitioner in Wodonga recently informed me that the Labor spokeswoman on health had no idea how to approach the issue. One thing people in Indi do not like is politicians treating heath as a political football—sadly, that is exactly what the member for Lalor is doing. Perhaps, instead, the member for Lalor should look to her Labor predecessors in the health area like Brian Howe and Neal Blewett, just to name a couple. Perhaps she should consult the great social justice campaigner, Brian Howe who, after showing that Labor could not care one jot about bulk-billing after they introduced a $5 copayment on patients in the 1991 budget, said:

Today is a great day for Medicare. The government has shown that it will invest what is necessary to protect and strengthen Medicare. The people of Indi are already benefiting from MedicarePlus, and I look forward to increased improvements in the provision of medical care. (Time expired)

The SPEAKER —Order! It being nearly 8 p.m., the debate is interrupted.