Australians on the NSW South Coast will get the free urgent care they need, fully bulk billed, without waiting hours in a busy hospital emergency department, if the Albanese Labor Government is re-elected.

Labor will respond to heightened community concern and deliver funding to extend the opening hours of the Batemans Bay Medicare Urgent Care Clinic.

And, if Labor is re-elected, a new federally-funded Medicare Urgent Care Clinic in Nowra will begin operating in the 2025-26 financial year, providing bulk billed care for urgent but non-life-threatening conditions, seven days a week, for extended hours, and with no appointment needed.

The Albanese Government established the Batemans Bay Medicare Urgent Care Clinic in December 2023 and since then, the clinic has treated over 12,500 Australians, averaging almost 30 a day.

By the end of 2025, the Batemans Bay Medicare Urgent Care Clinic will operate up to 18 hours a day, seven days a week, from early morning to late at night.

The funding to extend the hours of the Batemans Bay Medicare Urgent Care Clinic is in addition to a $644 million commitment to open another 50 Urgent Care Clinics, with more clinics in every state and territory.

The new federally-funded Urgent Care Clinic in Nowra will take pressure off the Shoalhaven District Memorial Hospital, which saw 23,173 non-urgent and semi-urgent presentations in 2023-24.

Parents and families swear by them: one third of patients are under the age of 15.

All you will need is your Medicare card, not your credit card.

The Liberals say the Albanese Labor Government’s Urgent Care Clinics are “wasteful spending”. Peter Dutton will close every Medicare Urgent Care Clinic, forcing over a million Australians a year back into the waiting rooms of busy hospital emergency departments.

Labor went to the last election promising to open 50 Medicare Urgent Care Clinics, and we have delivered 87 clinics. More than 1.2 million Australians have already been treated at one of Labor’s existing 87 Urgent Care Clinics.

Doctors have embraced the clinics, with a survey finding 7 in 10 GPs support Medicare Urgent Care Clinics, and 8 in 10 GPs say they have a positive impact on hospital emergency departments.

Around 2 million Australians are expected to make use of an Urgent Care Clinic each year, getting the free urgent care they need, fully bulk billed, without waiting hours in a busy hospital emergency department.

This extends Labor’s election commitment to strengthening Medicare, with the single largest investment in Medicare since its creation over 40 years ago.

Quotes attributable to Member for Gilmore, Fiona Phillips MP​:

“I’m proud to be part of an Albanese Labor Government that is listening to my South Coast community and ensuring that locals can get the urgent care they need.

“Locals know that the Medicare Urgent Care Clinic in Batemans Bay is there when they need free, urgent care. I know it will give my community peace of mind to know that the clinic will be open up to 18 hours a day, soon.”

“Only Labor will deliver a Medicare Urgent Care Clinic in Nowra so you can get the free urgent care you need, fully bulk billed, without waiting hours in a busy hospital emergency department.

“The federally-funded Medicare Urgent Care Clinic in Nowra will be open seven days, for extended hours, and will take pressure off the Shoalhaven District Memorial Hospital".

Quotes attributable to Health Minister Mark Butler:

“Australia's doctors voted Peter Dutton the worst Health Minister in Medicare history for a reason.

“The Liberals had nine years to open Medicare Urgent Care Clinics, and they never opened a single one. Now they call Labor’s clinics ‘wasteful spending’ and want to close every single one of them.

Quotes attributable to Assistant Minister McBride:

“Medicare Urgent Care Clinics are an Albanese Government initiative because we believe in Medicare and in free urgent care, fully bulk billed.

“You can’t trust the Liberals with Medicare: you can’t trust them to open Urgent Care Clinics and you can’t trust them to keep them open.”

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