TRANSCRIPT – SKY NEWS NEWSDAY WITH KIERAN GILBERT

Angie Bell MP
Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education
Shadow Minister for Youth
Federal Member for Moncrieff

TRANSCRIPT

SKY NEWS – NEWSDAY WITH KIERAN GILBERT

3 March 2025

Subjects: Labor’s tragic bulk billing record, Soaring cost of living, Latest polling, Labor spending $11 million to cover up worker retention chaos.

E&OE…………………………………………………………………………………………………

KIERAN GILBERT:

To Liberal frontbencher Angie Bell. Angie, thanks for your time. What’s the Coalition’s view of Labor’s plan to fund an additional 50 Medicare urgent care clinics?

ANGIE BELL:

Well, we’ve seen Kieran, half of those that they’ve already funded go to Labor electorates and we’ve seen another five for those seats that they are running after. I think there’s a bit of pork barrelling going on there with urgent care clinics.

But the Coalition wants to see more Australians access those urgent care clinics. That’s why we’ve committed $9 billion to Medicare for bulk billing, because we’ve seen 1.5 million Australians avoid going to the GP because they simply can’t afford it under this government. And their record stands on its own. We’ve seen under the Coalition 88 per cent bulk billed and under, of course, this Labor government, 77 per cent. You cannot trust Labor with health and Australians simply can’t afford another three years under Anthony Albanese and his hopeless government.

KIERAN GILBERT:

You mentioned that support for the bulk billing increase. Do you think that, and Peter Dutton, your team moved very quickly to back that $8.5 billion boost. Would you like to see the Coalition get on board, though, with these additional urgent care clinics, which are proving popular in the electorate?

ANGIE BELL:

We want to see more Australians access bulk billing through those urgent care clinics, absolutely. And that’s why we have committed that funding to help Australians, because under this government, they simply can’t afford to go to the local doctor. Out-of-pocket costs are soaring when it comes to healthcare, out-of-pocket costs are soaring when it comes to every other type of care in the nation as well. And so, what we’re seeing is a cost of living crisis under this government. What we need is the Coalition to get Australia back on track when it comes to our economy, when it comes to health care and when it comes to aged care, when it comes to child care, when it comes to the care economy more generally, only a Coalition government can get the country back on track.

KIERAN GILBERT:

So, on the polling, the tracking polling that has things tightening back towards the government, are you concerned by what you’re seeing there ahead of a campaign proper kicking off?

ANGIE BELL:

Well, I think we’ve agreed before, Kieran, that the only polling that matters is the one on polling day. But I think Australians need to look at the track record of this government because they have failed. We are in a cost of living crisis, they have failed to manage the economy. We’ve seen 27,000 businesses go broke under this government. We’ve seen a crisis in community safety. Now we’re seeing a national security crisis unravel under this government as well. And so, they do not have the record to have the trust of Australians. It’s only the Coalition and the strong leadership of Peter Dutton and James Paterson, who can bring our country back to where it needs to be for the future.

KIERAN GILBERT:

The government is injecting funds into the area of your responsibility. We know that they’ve committed to childcare workers having a pay rise. There have been some technical issues in delivering that. Do you welcome the fact the government is injecting some funds to try and smooth that process out?

ANGIE BELL:

Well, certainly it’s about time they helped those providers around the country. But this is a hopeless Labor government who thinks that it’s okay to spend $11 million of taxpayers’ hard earned money, to outsource the process for providers to apply for this funding to pay their staff. Now, the government promised 200,000 workers they would get a pay rise by the end of last year. And here we are in March, 19 per cent of workers across the early learning sector have received their pay rise. So, this is another broken promise from a Labor government who is out of its depth and certainly out of touch with Australians and early learning providers.

KIERAN GILBERT:

But you would recognise that this policy is popular with those in the sector that you speak to?

ANGIE BELL:

Well, look, we supported a pay rise for early childhood educators because they work hard, and they play a very important role in our country. But there is no doubt, Kieran, that the Labor government has failed on the rollout of this. It is a bungle at best, when only 19 per cent of educators have received their pay rise, that was promised by them, by the Prime Minister and by Jason Clare when he stood up and said it’s pay day for 200,000 workers. Here we are in March, fast forward three months later, and those, particularly small providers around the country, have paid their staff up front and they still haven’t received payment from this government. So, there are applications in process, but it’s all about when these providers get paid.

KIERAN GILBERT:

Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education Angie Bell. Thanks, we’ll talk to you soon.

ENDS.