PATRICIA KARVELAS HOST: Rebecca White is the Assistant Health Minister. She joins us this afternoon. Minister, welcome.
REBECCA WHITE, ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGED CARE: Thanks so much for having me this afternoon, PK.
HOST: From tomorrow, new incentives will come into effect to encourage doctors to bulk bill for every visit. Some doctors, though, as you know, say the incentives will not offset the cost of bulk billing every patient and their bottom line will suffer. What will you do to get them on board?
WHITE: Well, it is a big day tomorrow. We are delivering on our promise to strengthen Medicare and this was a big feature of the election too. A lot of people want to make sure they can access a GP a bulk billing GP. Now, this is over an $8 billion commitment of investment that we're helping to deliver across the country, and from tomorrow there will be more practices providing bulk billing places for patients. We have about 7,000 practices across the country, about 1,500 currently bulk bill and we already know about a 1,000 more are going to start bulk billing from tomorrow. Nearly doubling the number of bulk billing practices across the country. There's work to do of course with some doctors groups to make sure that they understand the opportunities this provides, not only for patients but for their practices and there's been a lot of work done to model how we could structure the incentives to ensure that we have the greatest uptake possible. But this will be a staged rollout. Our commitment was that by 2030 nine out of 10 visits to the GP would be bulk billed. And we're seeing very encouraging signs.
HOST: Look, one provider actually has spoken to the ABC and I'm going to quote them. They say people will come in and say the Prime Minister told me all I need to have is my Medicare card and that it's actually going to cause them stress because of just how much the Prime Minister said all you need is this, when sometimes you will still need your credit card. Do you accept that that's going to be a problem?
WHITE: I accept that there will be practices that still have a fee for service model because they're still working out how this arrangement might work for them. But we're working closely with practices and helping to answer questions where they have them. And it's also important to talk to viewers through you and programs like this PK to make sure that Australians understand that they should call their practice check whether or not they're moving to fully bulk billing. They can go on the Health Direct website and look for service providers too, which will show them a list in a postcode area of who is a bulk billing practice I know here in my own electorate, I'm in Tasmania today, there are six practices moving to be fully bulk billing from tomorrow, which is a really great outcome for people in regional parts of the country.
HOST: But do you expect people, given the Prime Minister's language throughout the whole of the campaign about only needing your Medicare card, to perhaps put out their frustrations when it's not the case and there is a fee for service on those doctors and providers?
WHITE: Well, I would hope that anybody presenting to receive a service isn't going to be rude about it and that they treat professionals who are receptionists in large part with respect. I would just remind people that this is a commitment that is staged. We are determined to increase bulk billing rates across the country and as I said, by 2030, we would expect that nine out of ten visits to a GP will be fully bulk billed. We've already seen 1,000 practices indicate they're moving to fully bulk billing from tomorrow, which is nearly doubling the number of practices across the country. It is a great first step but there's certainly more stages for us to work through yet and I just encourage people to ring their practice if they're not sure have a conversation and also look on the Health Direct website because there might be another practice close to where they live that is fully bulk billing.
HOST: Minister, on another issue, and I know it's not your primary responsibility, but it is certainly in the health space, State and Territory Disability Ministers have threatened to boycott the upcoming NDIS meeting. They say they're not being given enough time, just two minutes to contribute. Is that going to be addressed by the Commonwealth?
WHITE: I'm sure it will be. We need to be working with our state colleagues and our territory colleagues to make sure Australians can access the services that they expect and they deserve, whether they be health services or disability services. I know from experience when those agendas get sent out there are usually an allocation of time indicated. It doesn't necessarily mean you have to stick to that, and I'd hope people work together collaboratively to make sure that we can have these conversations in the best interests of disability and patients across the country.
HOST: Just a couple of other issues. Four Coalition MPs talked about their concerns about late-term abortions this week. I've already spoken to the Health Minister, Mark Butler, who really rebuked that approach. But I'm just wondering if you're getting more feedback about this. I mean, this is just, as I say, a sort of minority group of people who are talking, but has it caused any distress? Are you getting anything across your desk in relation to this?
WHITE: Yes, and it is very distressing. I was in the Parliament listening to some of these contributions by men, all men, who were making comments about this particular law. And I think we need to be really clear, this law is to provide clarity in the employment standards and employment law about somebody who's gone through the tragedy of losing a baby, either stillbirth or in the first month after that baby's been born, to make it clear that they can still access paid parental leave. And this has come about because of the bravery of the parents of Priya, who shared their story and gave the name of their daughter to this piece of legislation. The debate in the Parliament was, for the large part, very compassionate and understanding, but in the instance of some on the coalition benches, and I won't name them because I don't think that they deserve to have their voices elevated any further, but I will point out that the comments they made were divisive, highly politicised and very inaccurate when it comes to what's actually in this bill.
HOST: There's a breaking story this afternoon. The Bureau of Meteorology is going to be reverting to its previous colour scheme of its rain radar and weather map. We all know how big the backlash has been, how disturbed people have been, and the government has expressed its concern. Are you pleased to hear that they're going to revert as a way of addressing the community's concerns?
WHITE: I think it's a sensible step. We need to make sure that information shared through the Bureau is clear and that people can understand it and it seems like this launch hasn't gone as well as anyone would expect, so while they make some improvements it is sensible to move back to what we had before because people understand that and it can sometimes make the difference between somebody choosing to leave an area if there's a storm that might impact on them or not. And we need to make sure there is clear information provided through the Bureau. And I'm pleased to hear they've taken this step.
HOST: Just finally, I'm about to speak to David Crowe, who files out of London now about this issue. But Prince Andrew will no longer be a prince, so I shouldn't have called him Prince Andrew. He's been stripped of his titles. Do you welcome that? Is it the right decision?
WHITE: Look, that's a matter that the King's obviously decided to take.
HOST: Sure, but it's our head of state. It's our head of state. Like, don't we have a view?
WHITE: I'm sure people will have a view, but I'm not going to meddle in the affairs of the royal family.
HOST: OK, they are our head of state, but I suppose that's the ongoing conundrum. Thank you so much for joining us.
WHITE: Thank you.