Mrs PHILLIPS (Gilmore) (11:56): Almost 17,000 people have walked through the doors of the Batemans Bay Medicare Urgent Care Clinic since the doors opened in December 2023—people like Nikita, who has taken her sick kids to the clinic many times, where they received care and went home without having to wait around for hours in the emergency department, and people like Sonja from Malua Bay, who said the clinic has provided convenient care for her family, including her three grandchildren, who live with her. Nikita, Sonja and thousands more like them, including local residents and many visitors to Batemans Bay, have walked into the Medicare urgent care clinic and have seen a doctor without having to get out their credit cards, just their Medicare cards.
Batemans Bay is a growing region and the population swells during the summer months as visitors flock to the seaside retreat, which is why I'm so thrilled that the Albanese Labor government will be extending the opening hours of the Batemans Bay urgent care clinic. Locals and visitors will be able to walk into the clinic from 6 am till midnight seven days a week and receive urgent but non-life-threatening care with just their Medicare card. I'm so proud that the Batemans Bay clinic will soon have the longest opening hours of any Medicare urgent care clinic in the country.
The community response to the Batemans Bay Medicare Urgent Care Clinic has been nothing short of incredible. The clinic has taken pressure off the emergency department and local medical centres. Families with young children, injured sports people and many of our older residents have walked in, received care and gone home without waiting hours at local hospitals and clogging up the ED. It has been life-changing. In fact, people right across my electorate of Gilmore on the New South Wales South Coast, having seen how great the Batemans Bay UCC is, have been calling for a second clinic in the north of the electorate, and I'm so thrilled that, after launching a community petition, Gilmore will, in fact, be getting a second Medicare urgent care clinic.
Shoalhaven residents have been crying out for a clinic to take pressure off the busy Shoalhaven hospital, where, people have told me, waiting times at the ED can be from four to six hours for non-life-threatening care. The new Medicare urgent care clinic in Nowra will service a huge area, including Berry, Bomaderry and Shoalhaven Heads to the north and Jervis Bay, St Georges Basin and Sussex Inlet to the south. When the doors open, people will be able to walk in and receive health care with just—you guessed it—their Medicare card. This government's commitment to strengthening Medicare will have a profound impact on the lives of people living in and visiting my electorate. Not only will we have expanded hours at the Batemans Bay Medicare Urgent Care Clinic and a brand new Medicare urgent care clinic in Nowra; this government will also expand mental health services.
The recently opened Nowra Mental Health Hub will be upgraded to a full Medicare mental health centre to provide free access to psychiatrists and psychologists onsite or on call. There has been a massive need for additional adult mental health support around Nowra. I'm so proud to be delivering that service to my community. The expanded Nowra Medicare mental health centre is in addition to the walk-in adult Medicare mental health service that opened in Moruya last year, which is providing a vital service for people in the south of the electorate. Our young people have not been forgotten, with the Albanese Labor government opening Kiama headspace, providing life-changing support to local families.
I'm really pleased that this government is helping so many women, way beyond the boundaries of Gilmore, thanks to the hugely successful South-Eastern Endometriosis and Pelvic Pain Clinic in Milton. With one in nine women living with endometriosis, it's essential that they receive good support and a timely diagnosis; it's even better that they can access help close to home. I have spoken to many local women and mums who have welcomed Labor's $790 million women's health package, which will bring more choice, lower costs and better health care for women of all ages right around the country.
We promised we would get on with strengthening Medicare, with more bulk-billing, training more doctors and nurses, opening urgent care clinics and, of course, making medicines even cheaper—and that's what we are doing.
