Labor has supported the steps that the Government has taken in response to the COVID-19 outbreak to date. We believe they have been necessary but it is increasingly clear that they are not sufficient.

Two weeks ago Labor flagged that it was critical for preparations to incorporate the needs of primary care providers who have a critical role in responding to COVID-19 in Australia, including close consultation with the AMA and RACGP.

And on the weekend, in a letter to the Prime Minister, Labor flagged key concerns related to primary care, and specifically the need for consistent advice and additional support for general practitioners, pharmacists and other primary health care providers, noting the concerns expressed by peak groups and proposals for Medicare telehealth consultations.

Unfortunately the Prime Minister did not acknowledge this concern in his response.

Concerns about a lack of clarity and support for general practice have only grown in recent days.

Today I have written to the Minister for Health elaborating on a number of concerns that GPs and their representatives have expressed to me, in hope that the Government will take urgent action to address them.

These concerns include:

• Communication the lack of clear and consistent information on the risks of COVID-19 and how they can be mitigated. This should be addressed with national mass media and digital campaigns (including a standalone app), as well as targeted communications to GPs and other primary health care providers.
• Personal protective equipment the small number of masks that have been made available to GPs to date; a lack of clarity on when the promise of additional masks might be fulfilled; and concerns about the capacity of some Primary Health Networks to allocate and distribute masks at a local level.
• Telehealth the lack of Medicare Benefits Schedule items for COVID-19-related services provided via phone or videoconference, as well as the narrowness of some proposals for new items. This is now very urgent.
• Fever clinics a lack of clarity on how GP-led fever clinics would be funded and operated, as well as how they would interact with separate state and territory fever clinics.
• Healthdirect extremely long wait times, contradictory advice to different callers, and a lack of clarity on the role of healthdirect - which should play an important role in informing and triaging patients, but not be considered as a substitute for GP care.
• Pathology the capacity of the sector to meet vastly increased demand, and the current lack of innovative models to meet this demand (e.g. with home visits).

Labor shares the concern that these individual issues reflect a systemic failure to consider the role of general practice in national pandemic planning.

Labor will provide our full support to any and all actions the Morrison Government takes in response to these concerns.

Labor will continue to act and engage constructively on this public health challenge.