Federal Treasurer slams state government claims of inadequate funding

Dr Chalmers reminded the state health minister Tasmania had no Urgent Care Clinics before Labor came to power federally.

Dr Chalmers appeared at the Launceston Medicare Urgent Care Clinic (UCC) on May 22 to announce a federal boost for the clinic.

Since opening last year, the Launceston UCC has experienced around 12,000 visits, a quarter of which take place on weekends, making it one of the busiest in the country.

The funding is part of the broader package to establish 29 more Medicare Urgent Care Clinics nationwide through a $227 million expansion announced in the latest Budget.

However, state Health Minister Guy Barnett said the funding was "grossly inadequate."

"We have requested five urgent care clinics to ensure Tasmanians get the health care they deserve," Mr Barnett said.

Dr Chalmers said the Tasmanian government, like all governments, would like to see more Urgent Care Clinics in their state.

"What we are investing in here is expanding the four existing [UCC] and funding another one so that more patients can be seen in these Urgent Care Clinics in Tasmania and indeed around Australia," Dr Chalmers said.

"Before Labor came to office, there were precisely zero Urgent Care Clinics - let's not lose sight of that."

Mr Barnett also expressed his discontent at the lack of funding for the Launceston General Hospital (LGH).

"We have a 10-year master plan [for the LGH] - a $580 million project - and the federal government has not delivered one red cent to assist us in that objective."

"We've been left off the map when it comes to this federal Labor budget, and it's just not good enough."

But Dr Chalmers said it "was ridiculous" to think Tasmania had been left behind.

"Tasmania is getting a greater than population share when it comes to infrastructure investment," Dr Chalmers said.

"They're getting a big investment in local health care, like the expansion of urgent care clinics like this one.

"280,000 taxpayers in Tasmania are getting a tax cut, almost all of them a bigger tax cut than they were going to be getting from the Liberal Party."

Independent Senator for Tasmania Tammy Tyrrell questioned whether the funding would be enough to keep UCCs open for their promised hours.

The 2022 announcement of the Urgent Care Clinics promised they would be open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. However, the earliest opening time for a Tasmanian UCC is 12 p.m.

Dr Chalmers said they were in discussions with the state government to ensure they could remain as open as possible.

"We are aware of that issue - that has been raised with us, and it's a legitimate issue," Dr Chalmers said.

"One of the reasons why we're piling more funding into these urgent care clinics is because we want them to be available for longer during the day."