Andrew Leigh

Senator The Hon Katy Gallagher 
Minister for Finance
Minister for Women
Minister for the Public Service
Minister for Government Services

The Hon Mark Butler MP
Minister for Health and Ageing
Minister for Disability and the NDIS

The Hon Andrew Leigh MP
Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury
Member for Fenner

Alicia Payne MP
Member for Canberra

David Smith MP
Member for Bean

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
DOORSTOP
TUGGERANONG
FRIDAY, 27 MARCH 2026

SUBJECTS: Bulk billing GP clinics for the ACT; fuel; Canberra Stadium; EV road user charges

DAVID SMITH MP, MEMBER FOR BEAN: I'd like to acknowledge that we're here on the land of the land of the Ngunnawal and Ngambri people, pay my respect to their elders past and present, and thank them for their stewardship of this land for thousands of years.

And it's just great to be here in the heart of Bean for a really, really exciting announcement, a critical announcement that all my ACT colleagues and myself have worked hard for.

I'm here with Minister Gallagher, Assistant Minister Leigh, and my good friend Alicia Payne, the member for Canberra, and today we're announcing that we've secured the future of the Tuggeranong Family Centre Practice here and announcing the location of the three bulk billing clinics that we committed to during the last federal election.

This, of course, comes on top of the recent opening of the Urgent Care Clinic in Phillip, which I understand has already seen more than 2,000 patients go through, to date.

At a time like this, it's really critical to be delivering that primary health care to as many people across Canberra as possible and in an accessible and affordable way. I'd like to pass over to my good friend, Minister Gallagher.

SENATOR THE HON KATY GALLAGHER, MINISTER FOR FINANCE: Thanks very much, Dave, and it's great to be here with Dave, Alicia and Andrew as the ACT's Federal Labor representatives to deliver on our commitment that we took to the last campaign, which was to provide some additional investment over and above the Bulk Billing incentive and the Bulk Billing practice incentive payment that we have applied across Australia to really specifically intervene in the ACT because of some of the unique circumstances we have here.

And at the last campaign, we worked on a proposal which got supported, which was to provide an additional $10.5 million dollars to essentially stand up additional Bulk Billing general practices in the ACT to add to the existing primary care network, and I would like to thank all of the principals who have joined us here today, from both the PHN who has done a lot of the heavy lifting to get this commitment we made in the campaign into actual reality and to deliver those Bulk Billing clinics, but also to the operators of the Tuggeranong Family Medical Centre here, so thank you to them, to Macquarie General Practice. I've got the list here to Ochre and to Next Practice as well for the clinics that they currently operate, but also for taking on the responsibility of consolidating here in Tuggeranong this practice, but opening new ones in Gungahlin, in South Tuggeranong and in Molonglo, where we know all communities that will benefit from the addition of more Bulk Billing general practices.

So this is a really important commitment we made. We're delivering on it. It comes in addition to the Woden Urgent Care Clinic, which was opened in December last year, and which, as Dave said, is seeing over 200 patients a week, seeing more than 2,000 patients already, and is incredibly successful. And we very much thank the operators of the Woden Urgent Care Clinic for that. This means that since November, when those new payments, those new incentive payments, both for Bulk Billing and the practice payments, came in, the ACT has moved from having 10 Bulk Billing practices with the addition of these three, we will move to 22, so that is more than doubling the number of clinics in the ACT which offer fully Bulk Billing service to patients.

This is a long running problem that we've had in the ACT about low Bulk Billing rates. This will help, and that has been the focus of our commitment, and will continue to be as we work through and respond to the ACT's unique circumstances. But I'm really pleased because of the work that the four of us have done that we will see by the 30th of June this year, those additional three Bulk Billing practices opening up, and, of course, the long-term future of this important clinic here in Tuggeranong. I'll hand over to Andrew and then Alicia.

ANDREW LEIGH, ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR PRODUCTIVITY, COMPETITION, CHARITIES AND TREASURY: Well thanks Katy, and great to be here with Alicia, Dave and Katy for this important announcement. When your child breaks an arm, it shouldn't break the bank balance. Canberrans need to be secure in knowing that they can go to the doctor, show their Medicare card and get the service, that's the promise of Medicare. Labor built Medicare, and Labor fought successive elections every year from 1969 to 1993 against a coalition who wanted to destroy Medicare. Reluctantly, they came to accept it, but we saw under the former coalition government, Bulk Billing rates fall in the ACT. It's taken a re-elected Labor government to ensure that Medicare is back as the focus for health for this federal government.

What we're doing in Bulk Billing is doubling the number of Bulk Billing practices and ensuring that that practice is around the corner from where you live. In Gungahlin, we're going to see a new Bulk Billing practice. It'll be the first fully Bulk Billing practice in the Gungahlin town centre, warmly welcomed by many Canberrans who want to know that at a time when people are feeling a cost-of-living squeeze, that squeeze shouldn't be made worse when a child spikes a fever.

I want to acknowledge the terrific doctors, the medical teams here today, for the work that you do in order to revamp that main promise of Medicare: that you can go to the doctor and just show your Medicare card at a practice near you. Hand over to Alicia.

ALICIA PAYNE MP, MEMBER FOR CANBERRA: Thank you very much. It's really exciting to be here for this announcement today, and I just want to begin by thanking the Tuggeranong family practice for hosting us here today.

Our government, the Albanese Labor government, is a government that values Canberra and the problems that our community are facing. We take them seriously, and myself and our other Labor representative team here, we've been listening to Canberrans about how hard it is to find a Bulk Billing doctor in Canberra, and we know that the rates of Bulk Billing in Canberra are well below other parts of the country.

So while our government is investing heavily in Medicare across the board in tripling the incentives for Bulk Billing and providing extra incentives for practices that fully bulk bill, we've still been hearing from Canberrans that they're finding it too hard to find Bulk Billing services here in Canberra, and myself, Katy, Andrew and Dave have passed on that message and been advocating for that, and our government has listened.

This is about the Albanese Labor government doing something over and above for Canberra to ensure that Canberrans can access those services. And between this particular incentive and the incentives for around the country, as Katy has said, we have actually doubled the number of fully Bulk Billing practices in the ACT, and that is a huge achievement. That is a wonderful thing. And I'm just so happy that people will find it easier to access the care that they need.

I want to shout out to all the doctors as well that are already providing Bulk Billing and or a high proportion of Bulk Billing in their practices, particularly the Tuggeranong Family Practice we're at today. I know that the Next Practice in Deakin, the Macquarie General Practice and Ochre Medical who are here today, and among others.

We're also listening to doctors. We know that it's not easy, and that's why we've provided this extra support so that you can support the community. We really value the role that you play in Canberra, and we're here to listen to you as we are to Canberrans. So this is really good news today. And yeah, it's great to be here.

JOURNALIST: I have a few questions, $10.5 million. So that's just provided in one chunk, as it's for a one-off incentive. So is it split across the three practices? And what will that be spent on?

GALLAGHER: So it is, it's that's the total project cost, essentially, of establishing the new clinics. It will be, and has been negotiated through the PHN, but essentially to secure the supply services of new doctors, general practice, but also to assist with establishment costs of essentially starting a new general practice. It's not an ongoing payment. It's really acknowledging that if we wanted to deliver new practices, that we needed to provide some support to allow that to happen.

JOURNALIST: So will you expect these practices to continue Bulk Billing after that extra money runs out?

GALLAGHER: That is a requirement, that's a requirement of the arrangement.

JOURNALIST: Yeah, just on the Interchange under new management here, I have heard that some of the obviously, it's a vulnerable cohort. I've heard there's been some issues with people accessing treatment for like methadone and things like that.

GALLAGHER: Look, my advice is that's not the case, that the patients that were using the interchange and are continuing to use the interchange under the same arrangements that operated before. And the practice here has actually attracted new doctors, additional doctors, to this practice, both which will allow them to see more patients, but of course, continue to provide the care that's needed for those vulnerable cohorts that you say that access the interchange practice.

JOURNALIST: Just in terms of the Bulk Billing data, so the expansion of the incentives that kicked in November, your release noted that it's increased the number of practices that are taking that up. The actual data released by Medicare last month of quarterly Bulk Billing data, it hasn't really shifted the dial still. It's still just over 50%. How long are you expecting it to take for that to actually flow through, if at all?

GALLAGHER: Well, I think the next set of data will be really important. Obviously, we're watching this really closely, and in fact, this model that we're looking at here: how do you intervene in a market that's quite different to what we've seen in other states in terms of the uptake of both the practice payments and already the level of Bulk Billing being quite different. We, as a government, we're looking at this and seeing how our intervention kind of supports change in relation to a couple of other markets around Australia, where they're facing, smaller markets like ours, where they see similar differences in Bulk Billing. So in short, the next set of data is important, but it's on it in an ongoing sense as well.

Like, I mean, anecdotally, I'm hearing that non-Bulk Billing practices are doing more Bulk Billing, like more multi kind of billing approaches, so we just have to watch and monitor. But I guess this has been a problem for decades in this city, and we've tried different interventions. When I was Chief Minister, we established the nurse-led walk-in clinics, and that didn't change the Bulk Billing rate, but it did open up greater access to urgent care for people, and so in that sense, was really useful. But this is just a further intervention to see what more we can do, and we'll keep working on it. I mean, we want to see ACT community members get the same access to Bulk Billing as their New South Wales counterparts. That's not the case right now.

JOURNALIST: When do you expect to see the ACT become a territory that has the best Bulk Billing rates, I guess, in in the country, rather than on the lower end?

GALLAGHER: Well, as a government, our responsibility is to try and intervene where we think we can make the biggest difference. The decision around whether you bulk bill is a decision by the general practitioners themselves. So we can't force that. We can encourage that, we can incentivise that. That's why we've got the tripling of the Bulk Billing incentive applying across the board. We've got the practice incentive payments to those that sign up to be 100% Bulk Billing. And we've got this intervention as well. If there are further steps we have to take, then we will seriously look at them, because we are determined to make sure that we lift the Bulk Billing rate here in the ACT.

JOURNALIST: So at its peak, this place supported nearly 5000 Canberrans and their health. You mentioned before this a one-off payment as, I guess, a package of the three Bulk Billing centres, plus the immediate future of this place. How does a one-off payment secure ongoing funding for the hard working doctors and the patients here, and do they deserve better security than that?

GALLAGHER: Well, the $10.5 million was packaged basically to support the establishment of new clinics. The ongoing funding comes through the Bulk Billing payments. So the tripling of the Bulk Billing incentive plus the practice incentive payments. That is the additional support and ongoing support that the government will make and continue to make.

JOURNALIST: So will the providers have to pay back the $10.5 million if they don't continue Bulk Billing? You said it was a condition of the tender.

GALLAGHER: Well, I don't think we envisage, that that is a condition that they are Bulk Billing practices, for the requirements of the contracts that we engaged in.

JOURNALIST: And for how many years?

GALLAGHER: Look, that might be a question for the PHN, I know that they will be up and running by the 30th of June.

JOURNALIST: The methadone program for drug treatment here has been crucial for the Tuggeranong community. Some have explained they don't feel comfortable going to Canberra Hospital, nor do they have the transport abilities. And if you want to talk fuel costs, then that's a very real problem for them. Is it conditional that the methadone program stays to support people who need treatment for drug addictions and other addictions like that.

GALLAGHER: Well, again, my advice, and look, if you remember, we intervened when the practice closed, and we intervened quickly, and we really appreciate ForHealth coming in and continuing the service here, because that was the critical thing. How do we make sure those patients were continue to be seen and have good access to primary care, including for any opioid treatment program that they were on.

And we were very fortunate to have a provider that came in and did that. They're continuing to stay on. And my advice is that all of those programs are continuing to be provided as they were under the Interchange arrangement, and that's really important. You know, that was part of our intervention was to make sure acknowledging, and particularly Dave's advocacy at the time was around the nature of the Bulk Billing that was provided, the vulnerable cohort and the important role it plays in Tuggeranong.

JOURNALIST: Roughly how many full time equivalent or full-time doctors will be able to employ here at the other three centres, based on the funding projections the government's done?

GALLAGHER: Look, that's, I mean, that that will depend on the individual nature of the engagement of doctors. Roughly, in a, you know, a reasonable size GP practice, it's between six and seven doctors per practice. Here is a bit bigger, and in fact, I was just advised that there's an additional four doctors coming to operate out of here, in addition to the numbers they had already. So that is welcome news.

We have sought, and I think everyone involved in this has sought to look at how we provide additionality, rather than pull from existing practices. But there is also a number of GPs in Canberra that might not be working as GPs, but who might want to work an optional session or a couple of days, and that's been looked at here in including, you know, might want to speak to the operators of the Woden Urgent Care Clinic, because they've been running sessions to attract more doctors to run particular sessions there.

JOURNALIST: You're probably all aware, as elected members, that many Canberra GPs plead that bulk billing won't keep their heads above water in terms of bills they have to pay as well. So is this financially sustainable for patients and the care that they should and may get, as well as the doctors who are setting up shop?

GALLAGHER: Look, that's why we tripled the Bulk Billing rate. That was in direct response to what doctors were saying about why that Bulk Billing rates were going down, and the tripling of the Bulk Billing rate for concession card holders, which was what we did first, and children, essentially, those under the age of 16, started to shift the dial, so we could see that it was sensitive to the incentive payment. That's why we tripled it.

I think, from our point of view, that's billions of dollars that we've invested in Medicare to make sure that doctors are supported and can make those choices, and for many doctors under the practices they run, it is financially beneficial to shift to a fully Bulk Billing with the practice incentive payment. Now I've had feedback from the ACT that that's not the case here, but we have seen in six months a doubling of the number of practices. So it is making a difference. But I'm not pretending the job's done. There's more to do.

JOURNALIST: Just on fuel, for you, Minister Gallagher and Dr Leigh as well. So it's been noted that Canberra petrol prices are higher than in similar sized centres around Australia. You've now given the ACCC some extra powers. Will you be asking them to look specifically at the pricing in the ACT?

GALLAGHER: Well, I'm happy to hand to Andrew, but the ACCC has been given both those powers around penalties, but is highly engaged in every petrol market in the country, looking at what is going on now, and we have seen significant price variation across the country, and also distribution issues, which the ACCC is very engaged in, but the ACT market is one of those.

LEIGH: Yeah, thanks, Katy. And the ACCC analysis of Canberra goes back a decade at least, and points to some differences within the ACT market: the structure, the high use of fuel cards, which have led to some of those higher prices.

We've now got them doing weekly fuel price monitoring, and as of yesterday, we increased the maximum penalties for ripping off consumers. So just to put that into perspective, when fuel spiked over $2 a litre in the beginning of 2022 under the Morrison government, the maximum penalty was $10 million. We came to office and raised that to $50 million. Yesterday, parliament passed a law that raises the maximum penalty for ripping off consumers to $100 million. So the maximum penalty in dollar terms is up 10 fold under Labor, a clear indication of how seriously we take any company that intends to rip off consumers, or damage competition.

JOURNALIST: Can you talk about, I guess, what you're doing as well, too, for regional areas that are struggling to even have fuel in their bowsers?

LEIGH: So we've put in place the national fuel coordinator, Anthea Harris, who's then working with state and territory fuel coordinators. On top of that, you've seen the ACCC bringing an action, announcing an investigation into the supply of diesel in regional areas by four fuel suppliers. That's an action that they're bringing based on additional resources that we have provided to the ACCC. Our engagement with the ACCC is on a daily basis. They are a strong competition regulator, and they have stronger penalties than ever before, thanks to the laws that passed parliament yesterday.

GALLAGHER: The only other thing I'd add to that is the releasing of the stock holding obligations, the MSO, and releasing 20% of that. Minister Bowen is working with the companies, ensuring that the distribution of that is getting to places where we have seen problems with distribution, not supply. And that goes to regional areas, and it goes to dealing with some independent retailers who don't have those locked in long term contracts with the big fuel providers, and that has created some pressure, including in small areas around the ACT. And so that work is underway now, and you know you will see that situation change.

JOURNALIST: Could I ask if each of you, when was the last time you went to the Canberra Stadium, and what do you think about the state that it's in? Do you take, does the federal government take responsibility for this, given it's a federally owned asset?

GALLAGHER: Well, I'll kick off. Would have been a Raiders game last year, last season, I think. And I'm just trying to think if I've been since then. Look, it's an ageing piece of infrastructure. We work closely with the ACT government, as you know, on their priorities, of what their priorities have been. And they've raised, the pool, the convention centre, light rail, health infrastructure, health services, they've been the areas that we've been working on.

But at the same time, I mean, we've rescued the AIS, frankly, which was about to fall over under neglect from the former government. That work is about to start. I'm meeting with Kieran Perkins in the next few weeks around that, so you'll see some big demolition of buildings and things like that starting to happen.

As part of that agreement, we funded the $10 million master plan of that site. So the federal government said, okay, we need to have a talk about what's happening on this site as a whole. The master planning hadn't been done. We've funded that. That's due to report mid-year, and that will inform future decisions. I mean, it would be nuts to make a decision ahead of that detailed master plan work being completed, and that happens in the next couple of months.

LEIGH: I think the last time I went along was to see motorbikes flipping upside down with the boys. It is an infrastructure issue that needs to be addressed. But as Minister Gallagher has said, there is huge federal infrastructure spend right across the ACT. This is levels you never would have seen under a coalition government. You think about the national security precinct, the work that's being done on the War Memorial, the significant work that's being done on light rail, the $250 million that's being put into the AIS, significant infrastructure spending on roads.

Under the coalition's last budget, the ACT got a fifth of our fair share of infrastructure spending, and it's taken an Albanese government, and I have to be clear about this, having Katy Gallagher as Finance Minister championing the ACT in those conversations, for the ACT to finally get our fair share.

SMITH: Brumbies opening round. I'm glad I wasn't at the game where it was delayed by lightning, but I was also at a couple of the Capitals games at the Palace, and the Palace wouldn't have reopened with our Labor government, we've got a history of investing in great projects and importance of national assets here in Canberra, half a billion dollars into our national collecting institutions, many of which think we all, we all know that Blue Poles is in danger from the leaks in the roof of the NGA, and, of course, a quarter of a billion into the AIS, which, to be brutally honest with our local government, we can then be sure it's going to stay in the ACT. So we support great projects for Canberra.

PAYNE: Raiders, so the last time I was there was towards the end of last season, but my little son, Paul, and my husband were there last Thursday night in the rain in the undercover section. But a promise had been made to take Paul, and it paid off, because Simi signed his jersey for him, so her was very excited about that

And I was really, you know, saddened to hear Ricky Stuart's comments that the people making the decisions don't care about the stadium. We use the stadium because we absolutely do. And you know, as Katy has said, this is something that you know, we are committed to, and the ACT government ultimately has the responsibility.

But in the inquiry into the significance of the nation's capital that I chaired last term. One of the recommendations was that the federal government work with the ACT government to fund improvements of the stadium. And this is something that is on the list of priorities of the ACT government. And I would add that we are the first government in a long time, federal government that's invested in the AIS precinct. $250 million. And you know, as David said, it wouldn't even necessarily be there. There was, you know, moves to get the AIS to leave Canberra, which without our advocacy and that decision of the Albanese government, it would potentially not be. So this is something that we know Canberra care about, and that we care about too.

JOURNALIST: That master plan was due to report back in May, I believe. Is that going to be before the budget or after?

GALLAGHER: I don't think it, look, the latest advice I got is that it's going to be mid-year, like if it lands in May. It's too late for the Budget anyway. But you know, work starts on the next Budget the day after we table the Budget, in a sense, we're constantly in a in a world where we're considering these matters. And like it's an issue that is raised with us. We'll continue to work with the ACT government, but the master plan really is the first step of making, you know, clear and considered decisions about that site as a whole. And we don't walk away from our responsibilities, and we will continue to advocate strongly for the interests of Canberra, and we'll work with the ACT government on it.

JOURNALIST: If the master plan recommends building it there, will you fund it?

GALLAGHER: Look, I know that's the position of the ACT Government, is that is the site for the stadium. How you would manage that and keep ongoing stadium opportunities for the Raiders, the Brumbies and everything else that happens there is something that needs to be thought through. My advice is that the Civic site, because I did see something during the week kind of re-agitating around the Civic site, is that that can't be used for a stadium, for, you know, land, essentially contamination and other issues of that site make it unaffordable. So I think you know where I am, where the advice to us is that we are looking at what we do on the Bruce site, and that master plan will inform that.

JOURNALIST: Just on fuel and getting around, etc, with the discussion about the ACCC and how to ration fuel, can you clarify whether an EV road user charge or tax equivalent is speculation or actually a serious consideration, and whether that is the smartest policy move, given they actively do reduce, I guess, the cost to people who happen to own them to get around. Noting, also in this jurisdiction, for the last two years, over 25% of new car purchases have been in these.

GALLAGHER: So your questions are essentially around the road user charging. This has been an issue, I think that's been raised really, primarily by state treasurers, and was particularly focused on by the Victorian government that that support this. So it is an issue that has been talked about at Treasury level. We haven't changed our tax positions.

JOURNALIST: But are you considering?

GALLAGHER: Well, considering in the sense that it's been talked about, you know, by state governments and the Commonwealth, that's on the public record. But you know, this budget, and I think Jim and I have always been clear, and the PM, that you put a budget together based on the economic circumstances of the times. The issue for this budget is that those economic circumstances are particularly challenging and changing.

And so what you should expect in the Budget is a response to what is happening in the economy at the moment, plus our priorities, our election commitments, and sensible savings and all of the other issues that Jim has been talking about. So you know, it's it has not featured as a priority in that. At the moment we have been meeting daily on all of the matters relating to the impact of the Middle East conflict, as you would expect, and that's the kind of new and additional challenging factor for this Budget.

ENDS