"The basic principle behind Medicare is that the health of a citizen should not depend on their wealth." Bob Hawke said that in 1984. It was a simple sentence that reshaped this country. Before Medicare, a person's bank account decided whether they got to see a doctor. If they were sick and did not have the money, they went without or racked up debt. Prior to the introduction of Medicare, medical costs were the leading cause of bankruptcy. My mum still talks about it. She remembers borrowing money from friends and family just to take us to the GP. No‑one should have to make a choice between groceries and medicine, rent and a diagnosis, or one child's treatment over another.

Medicare was introduced by a Labor government with the simple belief that health care should be universal. Being able to see a doctor or get treatment in a hospital should not depend on a person's income, their postcode, or their private insurance status. Healthcare should not be a privilege; it should be a right. It is hard to overstate what a difference Medicare has made. People got the care they needed, when they needed it. For the first time in our country's history, health became something the system helped with, not something it punished people for needing.

However, Medicare did not survive this long by accident. Every step forward has come from Labor governments, and every attack—every freeze and every cut—has come from the other side. The Leppington electorate is seeing the difference that can be made by a government that genuinely believes in public health. Labor has introduced Urgent Care Clinics, which open seven days a week, operate with extended hours and are fully bulk‑billed. People do not need to wait hours in an emergency department for a minor fracture, an infection or a sick child. They definitely do not need to pull out their wallets. In my region, three of those clinics are already up and running in Liverpool, Fairfield and Campbelltown. They are giving people faster care, easing pressure on our hospitals, reducing wait times and helping emergency departments focus on life-threatening cases.

I have seen the difference firsthand. Just last month, my mother‑in‑law had a heart issue. My wife took her to the Fairfield Medicare Urgent Care Clinic, where she was seen immediately and got the treatment she needed and deserved. Then, the weekend before last, my daughter injured her ankle. We took her to the Liverpool Medicare Urgent Care Clinic. In the past that would have meant a long wait at the Liverpool Hospital emergency department, one of the busiest in the country. Those clinics are making a real difference, not just for my family but for millions of families across Australia. There are more are on the way, with a new clinic planned for the Green Valley area.

This is the work of a government that believes in public health, not just in words but in funding, access and outcomes. The Government is strengthening Medicare, lowering out-of-pocket costs and building services close to where people actually live. The alternative is funding freezes, slashed bulk-billing incentives, co‑payments and user-pays, shifting more of the burden onto hardworking families. We have seen it before. Every time it takes us further away from the Medicare that Australians rely on and closer to an American-style healthcare system, a system where your ability to get care depends on your insurance card, where one accident can mean hundreds thousands of dollars in debt, and where health is a product and not a right.

We cannot let that happen in Australia. We cannot go back to a time when people delayed going to the doctor because they simply could not afford it and when people were forced to choose between their health and their bills. Medicare did not just happen. It was built, piece by piece, clinic by clinic, reform by reform, by the Australian Labor Party. Labor made Medicare. Labor strengthened it. Labor will keep fighting for it, because the job is not done. The question in the upcoming Federal election is simple: Do we want a healthcare system that treats us when we are sick or one that asks if we can afford it first? I know where I stand.