Mr BUTLER (Hindmarsh—Minister for Health and Aged Care and Deputy Leader of the House) (15:04): I'm delighted to take a question on what this government is doing to make it easier to see a doctor. I'll tell you the position we inherited from those opposite, which is that it had never been harder and never been more expensive to see a doctor than it became under their government after nine long years of cuts and neglect to Medicare. For context, let me run through what exactly led to the decisions I've been asked about. Back in 2019, the former government ripped away the ability to recruit overseas trained doctors from 140 GP regions which for years had depended on overseas trained doctors to fill their consulting rooms. That was removed with the stroke of a pen. I can tell you that a number of MPs on this side organised discussions with patient groups and with doctors to run through what that meant to those local communities. Members in the Hunter Valley, like the new member for Hunter, the member for Patterson and the member for Shortland, as well as the candidate for Leichhardt and the senator for Far North Queensland said to me what that meant for the people of Cairns and what it meant for the Hunter Valley to have those consulting rooms hollowed out—utterly hollowed out—with the stroke of a pen by the former government. Mr Thompson interjecting— The SP EAKER: The member for Herbert will cease interjecting. Mr BUTLER: We took an evidence based approach to this question. We had a long Senate inquiry that took evidence from patient groups, from doctors groups and from local communities about what exactly that had meant for people who wanted to go in and see a GP. It lifted the lid on the impact of that decision by the Morrison government back in 2019. The former government had pretended that recruiting a doctor in the Hunter Valley was the same as recruiting a doctor in Mosman. They pretended that recruiting a doctor on the Central Coast was the same as recruiting a doctor on the North Shore. Mr Coulton interjecting— The SPEAKER: The member for Parkes will cease interjecting. Mr BUTLER: But after three years of their experiment, ripping out from regional Australia the ability to recruit those GPs— Mr Fletcher: A point of order on relevance, Mr Speaker: the question asked specifically about the Rural Doctors Association of Australia warning that this will wreak havoc in the bush. The SPEAKER: The question also asked about the changes to the distribution priority areas and the classification for rural doctors. The minister is in order. Mr BUTLER: We make no apology for making it easier to see a doctor in this country. We make no apology for strengthening Medicare after nine long years of cuts and neglect. As the member and others opposite should know, a range of incentives continue in place—for example, the workplace incentive program that provides up to $60,000 in additional incentives for those modified Monash model areas Nos 3 to 7 that continue to provide additional incentive— Ms Ley interjecting— The SPEAKER: The Deputy Leader of the Opposition will cease interjecting. Mr BUTLER: to rural health areas. There is still much to do to undo the damage of those opposite. Strengthening Medicare cannot happen overnight, but we make no apology for starting to undo the damage inflicted after nine long years of their cuts and their neglect of the Medicare system.