Transcript: Interview with Jacqui Felgate, 3AW Drive - 25 February 2025

TRANSCRIPT

Interview with Jacqui Felgate, 3AW Drive

25 February 2025

Topics: The Coalition’s $9 billion Medicare commitment, Labor’s primary healthcare crisis, public servant numbers, GP workforce shortages

E&OE…………………………………

Jacqui Felgate: Anne Ruston is the Shadow Minister for Health and Aged Care. Good afternoon, Anne.

Anne Ruston: Hi. How are you?

Jacqui Felgate: Look, I'm well. There was some comments today from the Prime Minister just about Peter Dutton and his former role as a Health Minister. Have you managed to catch those yet?

Anne Ruston: Well, I've heard a lot of things that the Prime Minister's been saying. You know, disappointingly, he clearly just wants to throw muck around instead of actually addressing the issue before us, and that's the crisis in primary care and, as you rightly say, how much it costs every time one of your listeners goes to the doctor.

Jacqui Felgate: He made a comment saying that the policy of the Opposition was no more real than fake tan, the Prime Minister.

Anne Ruston: Look, I mean, this not just a weak Prime Minister, but it's really disgraceful. He's now attacking us for giving bipartisan support to an issue that is so important to so many Australians, and that's getting affordable access to primary care. Because, right now, they clearly are struggling to do that. And so, the Prime Minister is running around, you know, chucking out these kinds of ridiculous and childish lines when we are absolutely focussed on one of the biggest issues before Australians, and that is they can't get in to see their doctor and when they do, they can't afford it.

Jacqui Felgate: Do we think, really, that the bureaucracy - Like, we've spoken about this a lot in terms of our Victorian Government and the bloated bureaucracy. Is it the same federally, and do you need to put a broom through it? What about all those people that are potentially going to lose their jobs?

Anne Ruston: Well, what I'd say is that Australia doesn't need more public servants in Canberra. What they need is more doctors and nurses out there actually dealing with the issue on the ground. So, we are really focussed on making sure that every single dollar that is spent by the Federal Government actually goes to delivering real outcomes for Australians. And, we believe that focusing that investment on doctors and nurses, making sure we've got a home-grown pipeline of doctors and nurses to treat Australians, but also making sure that we are putting the funding in so that Australians who can't afford to pay for the doctor now will get the support to do so - That's where we think the money should be going.

Jacqui Felgate: So, the 24 billion that you'll slash from the public sector, which areas would be considered for reduction?

Anne Ruston: Well, what we've been really, really clear about is that frontline services are absolutely essential and will always be a priority of our government. And that's making sure that things that interface with the public, so that when the public need help from the Government, which often they do, that those services will absolutely always be there. That's why we've been so clear about doctors and nurses and health professionals, and making sure they are prioritised in our spending.

Jacqui Felgate: How hard is it for someone who is a low-income earner to actually find a bulk billing clinic?

Anne Ruston: Well, it's almost impossible at the moment, which is why we've been so concerned for so long. And there are a number of issues that we have been yelling and screaming from the rooftops for this government to listen to. First of all, there just simply aren't enough doctors. And kicking and screaming, eventually, they've come to the table this weekend and agreed to invest in getting more doctors into the system and more nurses into the system. But, I mean, don't ask me, ask your listeners. They'll be the ones that will tell you that getting into a doctor is almost impossible. But when they get there, they are paying so much out of their pocket because they can't find a bulk billed service.

Jacqui Felgate: Is it easier to promise more health care workers, in particular GPs, when you know that the lead time on this, we're talking like 6 to 10 years aren't we, to train up a doctor?

Anne Ruston: Well, what we are very pleased to support, and something that we have been working on for some time, is about actually dealing with the issues every step along the pipeline of becoming a GP or a rural generalist, because we know that this issue is exacerbating in rural and regional areas. So, we're actually looking at providing incentives, even just before people become a GP, like for instance, Peter Dutton over 18 months ago announced $400 million to support our junior doctors who wanted to train in the community to become GPs. So those people are only a matter of a very short time away before they actually will be able to be out there and seeing patients. So, we need to make sure we start from training more doctors, so that's more graduates at our universities, more training places and pre vocational places in a, you know, when people are going through their internships and registrars, and then more support once they actually make that decision that they want to be a GP so that they, that we're encouraging them to be GPs because we know that's where the critical shortage is.

Jacqui Felgate: Anne Ruston is the Shadow Minister for Health and Aged Care. I really appreciate your time today.

Anne Ruston: My pleasure. Thanks for having me.

ENDS