Well, it's fantastic to be here at the opening of the Marrickville Urgent Care Clinic. This is one of 137 now we're rolling out right around the country. And more than a couple of million Australians have benefited from urgent care. We had young Matilda arrived here today, not feeling well. Mum's brought her in. Getting the care that is needed, when it's needed, for free. And all they need, of course, is this little piece of plastic, green and gold, their Medicare card. And that makes such a difference. In addition to that, the latest figures show that our changes to bulk billing, the tripling of the bulk billing incentive is leading to more free health care and strengthening Medicare. The number of bulk billing appointments going from 7 million up to 11 million between October and November because of our changes, which kicked in on the first of November. Medicare being strengthened is one of the key commitments that we made at the election campaign. We're doing it in suburbs, in regional cities, in rural communities, right around the country, making a difference.
MARK BUTLER, MINISTER FOR HEALTH: Thank you, Prime Minister, and for your support for this really important agenda. It's not only providing high quality care, free of charge to millions of Australians, it's also taking pressure off local hospitals, so Matilda didn't have to go to an emergency department to be seen urgently. We're seeing that from the statistics here in New South Wales, those less urgent, less serious emergencies that people need to have seen immediately are now coming to clinics like this, free of charge, but taking pressure off our crowded emergency departments.
