McGIRR BILL TO ENSHRINE RIGHT TO PRIMARY CARE

The right to primary health care for rural, regional and remote people in NSW would be enshrined in law under a bill presented to State Parliament this week. 

The Independent Member for Wagga Wagga, Dr Joe McGirr, introduced his Health Services Amendment (Right to Primary Health Care) Bill 2026 to the Legislative Assembly on 26 March. 

The bill – which can be described as a GP guarantee - aims to ensure that local health districts provide appropriate and timely access to in-person primary health care services to all residents of rural and regional areas. 

It defines primary health care as essential care provided by general practitioners, nurses, midwives, pharmacists, allied health professionals and Aboriginal health workers in community-based settings. 

Appropriate and timely care must consider whether services are provided within a two-hour drive of a resident’s home and whether public transport services are available to take patients to and from appointments. 

The bill is part of Dr McGirr’s six-point Rural Health Action Plan, which is designed to ensure regional residents get health care comparable to that available to people in metropolitan areas. 

He told parliament the bill would be an investment in health care that would pay dividends in better health for the regions while ultimately reducing the cost of providing secondary, tertiary and quaternary care to the regions. 

“What I’m talking about here is access to comprehensive primary health care where we have a range of professionals – GPs, allied health, nurse practitioners, paramedics – working at the top of their scope of practice in rural and regional and remote NSW to ensure that our  communities receive primary health care when they need it,” he said. 

While primary care is considered a commonwealth responsibility, Dr McGirr referred to the findings of the 2025 Special Commission of Inquiry into Healthcare Funding which made it clear that the state is required to support primary care provision, despite the incorrect claim by NSW Health that the responsibility should lie solely with the Commonwealth. 

“It is unacceptable that healthcare should be decided by postcode and that rural and regional areas miss out,” Dr McGirr said. 

“I urge my parliamentary colleagues to support my bill as well as the other points in my Rural Health Action Plan, so that the unfair and unsustainable gap in service delivery is closed and people in the regions get the same level of care as those who live in large cities.” 

Dr McGirr’s second reading speech of the bill is expected to resume in May.