In many ways 2025 was the year of Medicare.
Since being elected in May, I’ve had the privilege of representing my electorate of Lyons in Federal Parliament and seeing firsthand how Labor’s commitment to strengthening Medicare has played out in my home state.
In my role as Assistant Minister for Health, I’ve spent much of this year listening, to families, to older Tasmanians, to health workers, and to people managing illness alongside the pressures of everyday life.
The conversations are rarely abstract or political. They’re about caring for children and parents. About managing long-term conditions. About the quiet stress of trying to do the right thing for your health while keeping up with the cost of living.
What people want is simple: a health system that is there when they need it, that they can afford to use, and that treats them with dignity.
Over the past year, that’s what Labor has been working to deliver.
As we move into 2026, Tasmanians will begin to see that support in a very practical way, with the cost of medicines listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) capped at $25 per script.
For pensioners and concession card holders we are freezing the maximum cost they pay per script at $7.70.
For people who rely on regular medication, this change will bring real and ongoing relief in the year ahead.
It will mean fewer difficult choices at the pharmacy counter. Less stress about whether a prescription can wait. And a little more breathing room for families already juggling cost of living.
Cheaper medicines are part of a broader effort to strengthen Medicare and make health care more accessible for everyone.
In 2025, we continued the largest investment in Medicare in its history, supporting more GP clinics to offer bulk-billed appointments and helping Tasmanians see a doctor without worrying about the cost. Across the state, we’ve seen the number of full bulk billing clinics increase to 57, improving access to care when it’s needed most.
This matters because when health care is affordable, people don’t delay seeking help, conditions are treated earlier, families are supported sooner.
We’ve also expanded access to urgent care, closer to home.
Throughout 2025, Medicare Urgent Care Clinics have been delivering free, walk-in care for urgent but non-life-threatening health issues. Tasmania now has clinics operating in Launceston, Devonport, Hobart, Bridgewater and Sorell with two additional clinics in Burnie and Kingston opening in early 2026.
Open for extended hours, seven days a week, these clinics are fully bulk billed and designed to ease pressure on hospital emergency departments.
For Tasmanian families, that means reassurance, knowing there is somewhere local to turn when a child is unwell, an injury needs attention, or care is needed quickly.
Women’s health has also remained a key focus.
For too long, women faced higher out-of-pocket costs for essential care. Through Labor’s nearly $800 million Women’s Health Package, new contraceptive and menopause treatments have been listed on the PBS, delivering almost $1.7 million in savings for Tasmanian women since March last year.
We've made long-acting contraceptives like IUDs and implants easier and more affordable to access and invested in endometriosis and pelvic pain clinics that can be accessed through Family Planning Tasmania.
Looking back on the past year, these reforms have one thing in common: they’re about making life a little easier.
They’re about knowing you can see a doctor without worrying about the cost. Knowing urgent care is close by when you need it. Knowing that from 1 January, your medicines are more affordable.
Labor built Medicare on the belief that health care should be there for everyone, when they need it. Over the past year, we’ve taken important steps to strengthen that promise and as we look ahead to the rest of this year, Tasmanians can feel the difference in their everyday lives.