Federal election 2025: Albanese Government pledges $644m investment for 50 more Medicare Urgent Care Clinics

A re-elected Albanese Government will open another 50 Medicare Urgent Care Clinics across the country — including six in WA — in its bid to build a “stronger Medicare”. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Health Minister Mark Butler will on Sunday announce the $644 million investment, which would see Federal Labor open the facilities in 2025-26 if the party wins a second term. It will build on the existing network of 87 clinics in Australia, bringing the total to 137. Six of the new clinics have been earmarked for Western Australia, predominantly across the metro area in Bateman, Ellenbrook, Mirrabooka, Mundaring and Yanchep. One regional clinic will be opened in Geraldton, bringing the State’s total to 14. Department of Health and Aged Care modelling shows that once all of the clinics are up and running nationwide, four in five Australians will live within a 20-minute driver of an Urgent Care Clinic. The walk-in clinics provide bulk-billed care for urgent but non-life-threatening conditions, seven days a week. “Medicare Urgent Care Clinics are an Albanese Government initiative because we believe in Medicare and in free urgent care, fully bulk billed,” Mr Butler said. More than 1.2 million Australians have made use of an Urgent Care Clinic since they began opening around the country following a Labor election promise. And they’ve proven useful for parents and families, with a third of patients under the age of 15. In WA, medicos have tended to more than 130,000 presentations across the eight clinics, with nearly 20 per cent of weekday visits from 5pm or later. The eight WA clinics are in Morley, Rockingham, Clarkson, Beeliar, Midland, Gosnells, Bunbury and Broome. “This announcement of 50 additional Urgent Care Clinics if we are re-elected will provide the urgent care people need — and all you will need is your Medicare card, not your credit card,” Mr Albanese said. “Whether your family needs urgent or ongoing health care, under Labor, Medicare will be there for all Australians, in every community.” The Prime Minister said Labor was “building Australia’s future” with the largest investment in Medicare in more than four decades. The multibillion-dollar cash splash has so far included $7.9b for bulk billing, with nine in 10 GP visits to be bulk billed by 2030, $617m for more doctors and nurses, and $573m for better healthcare for women. And in response to the Opposition’s claims of “wasteful spending”, Mr Butler said the Coalition had nine years to open Urgent Care Clinics — and didn’t. “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,” he said.