The Hon Andrew Leigh MP
Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury
Assistant Minister for Employment
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
RADIO INTERVIEW
2CC, CANBERRA WITH STEPHEN CENATIEMPO
TUESDAY, 22 APRIL 2025
SUBJECTS: Supporting more bulk billing GPs for Canberra, preferencing, pre-polling open today
STEPHEN CENATIEMPO, 2CC: Well, unfortunately after that we do need to talk politics as we are in the midst of an election campaign. The Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury and the Member for Fenner Andrew Leigh is with us. Andrew, don't take that personally.
ANDREW LEIGH, MEMBER FOR FENNER: Not at all.
STEPHEN CENATIEMPO, 2CC: What are we, a week and a half out or nearly two weeks out from the election. Now, there's been a commitment from the Labor Government that if you re-elected, you're going to support more bulk billing GPs here in the ACT. Nobody would dispute the need for that. But the question that never gets answered is where do these GPs come from?
ANDREW LEIGH, MEMBER FOR FENNER: We're getting GPs firstly by training them, and that's obviously the best way we can do things and then also some are coming in from interstate and overseas. But Canberra at the moment has 20 per cent fewer GPs per person than Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane, so we do need to attract more GPs here. One of the announcements that we made yesterday is that we'll have the first ever metropolitan trial of what's called the ‘single employer model’, which means that GPs are able to do some of their training at through ACT Health, and then go out into general practice while keeping all of their entitlements. And that'll make Canberra a more attractive place to train as a GP.
STEPHEN CENATIEMPO, 2CC: So, this is the point I make - this is something that is available across the border in Queanbeyan and parts of the Monaro region, this single employer issue and regional New South Wales has been the pilot for this. But what is it that is stopping GPs from coming to Canberra now?
ANDREW LEIGH, MEMBER FOR FENNER: Well, there's a whole range of factors that will go into people's location choice. What we're aiming to do is make sure that Canberra is more attractive than ever. The money that we’ve put on the table, the $10 million for three more fully bulk billing practices will mean that there will be more opportunities for doctors to work in Canberra, and more opportunities for Canberrans to just show that green card when you go to the doctor.
STEPHEN CENATIEMPO, 2CC: Yeah but how does that happen, given that the current GPs and current GP clinics are saying they can't afford to bulk bill? How do these bulk billing clinics work then? And how do they how do they remain viable?
ANDREW LEIGH, MEMBER FOR FENNER: Well, partly they do it by scale. So, if you look at the National Health Co-op, which served the north side very well for over a decade. It managed to make bulk billing work financially through a whole network of centres. We've got the Interchange bulk billing centre in Tuggeranong.
STEPHEN CENATIEMPO, 2CC: Yeah, but it went broke!
ANDREW LEIGH, MEMBER FOR FENNER: Well we put another $3 million on the table to make sure that continues to operate. We visited yesterday, a billing practice in Macquarie which operates well in that Macquarie health hub. So, there's certainly people who are making bulk billing work, and by tripling the bulk billing incentives, by putting this additional money on the table, we're confident that bulk billing is financially viable for Canberra doctors.
STEPHEN CENATIEMPO, 2CC: Is the Prime Minister going to finally stop saying that all you need to go to the doctor with is your Medicare card? Because that's not the truth and will never be the truth?
ANDREW LEIGH, MEMBER FOR FENNER: Well, in many cases it is the truth. We went to a practice yesterday in Macquarie where that's certainly the case.
STEPHEN CENATIEMPO, 2CC: That's one clinic in Canberra Andrew.
ANDREW LEIGH, MEMBER FOR FENNER: Well there’s a whole range of them. I haven’t mentioned the Urgent Care Clinics, Stephen. You've got that those Urgent Care Clinics there in Gungahlin, Dickson, Belconnen, Western Creek, Tuggeranong and Woden - so there's a range of places where you can go in and just be treated with your Medicare card. But it is a challenge. I mean, you point exactly to an issue that I think is a frustration for many Canberrans, which is why we're working so hard on it.
STEPHEN CENATIEMPO, 2CC: Alright. Look, I wish you the best of luck with it. I just don't see how it's going to work because I again, I get back to that question about how do you attract GPs to Canberra when they don't want to come here now? Unless you're going to pay them more to be here than somewhere else, there's something that's holding them back from wanting to work in the ACT?
ANDREW LEIGH, MEMBER FOR FENNER: Well, the money we’ve put on the table for new bulk billing practices would allow those practices to pay more to doctors than they are at the moment. The new training initiative, I think, makes Canberra a more attractive place. Sometimes it's just about, you know, the dynamics of these things tipping. One of the incentives that was put in place to attract bulk billing doctors to Rockhampton recently saw a whole tip in the norms around bulk billing in Rockhampton, and now neighbouring practices that weren't bulk billing before have chosen to do so because it's been shown as a viable model.
STEPHEN CENATIEMPO, 2CC: I want to ask you one last thing before I let you go. Your colleague in Macnamara in Victoria; Josh Burns has done the principal thing and refused to preference the Greens on his how to vote. He's left his how to vote card open. Alicia Payne in Canberra has released her how to vote card preferencing the Greens number two. Where are you putting the Greens on your how to vote cards?
ANDREW LEIGH, MEMBER FOR FENNER: Stephen, I don't remember the exact order that they're in.
STEPHEN CENATIEMPO, 2CC: Rubbish. You know exactly the order.
ANDREW LEIGH, MEMBER FOR FENNER: I do not have it in my head Stephen. I can confidently tell you that (a) preferences are done by the Labor Party, and (b) I will come in the top two candidates in Fenner so my preferences will never be distributed.
STEPHEN CENATIEMPO, 2CC: So you have no say whatsoever in where your preference is going to be directed?
ANDREW LEIGH, MEMBER FOR FENNER: It's a decision that's made by the Labor Party right across the board.
STEPHEN CENATIEMPO, 2CC: And if you were vehemently opposed to the decision they made, you wouldn't say anything?
ANDREW LEIGH, MEMBER FOR FENNER: The first I saw the preference allocations was when the how to vote cards came out. I'm very relaxed about that. That's one of the things that the party manages. It's one of the great things about being part of a team, the party manages these issues.
STEPHEN CENATIEMPO, 2CC: But doesn't that fly in the face of the Prime Minister out there saying we won't do deals with the Greens? We don't want anything to do with the Greens, but then if you preference them second, well it kind of says you are in bed with them. Do you really expect us to believe that in the event of a hung Parliament, the Prime Minister won't take the Greens support to form government?
ANDREW LEIGH, MEMBER FOR FENNER: What the Prime Minister has said is we're working strongly to be a majority government. There is a party which will need to form coalitions, and that's the Coalition itself.
STEPHEN CENATIEMPO, 2CC: Yeah, but that's a formal Coalition that's been in place for decades. We're talking about in the event of a hung Parliament, and most pollsters are saying that is the most likely outcome. You're saying you won't take Adam Bandt’s votes to form government?
ANDREW LEIGH, MEMBER FOR FENNER: We're working hard to be a majority government, and I think if you look at the opinion polls at the moment that's looking a more likely prospect. I think we're going to be out there working for every vote. We've got pre-poll opening today and I'll be out there speaking to voters. It's a great opportunity just to engage in democracy and to try and work towards securing a re-elected Albanese Labor Government.
STEPHEN CENATIEMPO, 2CC: Andrew, thanks for your time this morning.
ANDREW LEIGH, MEMBER FOR FENNER: Thanks Stephen.
STEPHEN CENATIEMPO, 2CC: Andrew Leigh, the Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities, Treasury and Member for Fenner.
ENDS