Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise also to speak on the report on the inquiry into health funding. At the outset I would like to acknowledge the work of the committee and the work of the chair, the member for Fairfax; the deputy chair, the member for Shortland; and all of the members of the committee and the secretariat as well. I would like to support the previous comments made by the deputy chair of the committee and also the member for Hindmarsh.

This report is entitled The blame game. The first recommendation of the report deals specifically with this issue and focuses on this area of concern, an area of concern that so many people constantly raise, which of course is the roles and responsibilities of the levels of government and the need to specify the structures and service delivery arrangements. This is a vitally important issue and needs to be urgently addressed. For every health issue that arises, we often hear the Howard government standard response of: ‘That’s up to the states.’ That certainly is not good enough when talking about the health of all Australians. What we need is a national strategy to fix this problem. We need to have national leadership in overcoming this issue of the blame game and defining those roles and responsibilities so we can adequately address all of the health concerns of all Australians.

This is certainly an issue that many people constantly raise in my electorate with me—that what they see and hear is constantly this blame game, not actually fixing the problems; particularly in my electorate, with so many elderly people whose health needs are quite extreme. They raise this constantly, wanting to see some national leadership in resolving this issue.

I am also very pleased that the committee has raised the importance of dental care, another major issue in my electorate. I note that this is under recommendation 3, which states:

The Australian Government should supplement state and territory funding for public dental services so that reasonable access standards for appropriate services are maintained, particularly for disadvantaged groups. This should be linked to the achievement of specific service outcomes.

Dentistry is such an essential element of our nation’s health service, and I believe that all Australians should have access to affordable and timely dental care. It is a major issue to the people in my electorate of Richmond, as indeed it is to all Australians. Since the federal government scrapped the $100 million a year Commonwealth dental health scheme, so many people have had to wait years to get their teeth fixed. I am constantly approached by elderly people who cannot get their teeth fixed. They are often in extreme pain and they often cannot eat, so they are of course incredibly distressed about that situation. Some of these local seniors have been telling me that they are waiting sometimes for up to two years to have essential dental work performed. This situation is just not good enough, and it is shameful that our elderly are in such a dire predicament. Not being able to access timely and affordable dental care leads to a whole range of other medical problems such as malnutrition and many other medical conditions. This then places a greater burden on our health system because of the fact that these people cannot access affordable dental care.

The report notes at paragraph 3.112 on page 72: ‘The provision of dental care in a timely manner can significantly affect a person’s quality of life and future health costs.’ It is absolutely imperative that they are able to access decent, affordable dental care. The committee rightly notes concerns in relation to the affordability of dental care, the excessive waiting list and the shortfall in trained dental health workers. It is also important that this committee has unanimously agreed that the Commonwealth needs to provide more funding to dental care. As I said, this is a major issue in my electorate, so much so that over 4,000 people have previously signed a petition for the Commonwealth to restore federal funding for dental care.

I believe this recommendation in relation to dental care is a very important and significant part of this report. Indeed, it is a recognition of the failings of this current government in relation to dental care. The recommendation is a start, but it is only a start. What we need and what I will continue to fight for is a fully funded federal dental health scheme. This is what our nation needs and what Australia deserves.

I note further the very important recommendations in respect of producing adequate numbers of health profession graduates to meet the projected demand as contained in recommendation 5, which relates to training doctors. That recommendation suggests:

The Australian Government implement a strategy for Australia to:

• be self sufficient by 2021 in producing adequate numbers of health profession graduates to meet projected demand;
• provide the necessary funding to expand the training system to accommodate the required number of students; and
• consider using the AusAID budget to expand medical training to further assist developing countries.

This is a need that has to be urgently addressed because we have such a shortage of doctors and health professionals right across this country. In particular, looking at the future health needs of an ageing population, this is an issue that must be resolved now because the health demands are just going to increase significantly. As I said, in my electorate there are many elderly people; in fact, 20 per cent of the population is aged over 65 years—and it is that percentage that is predicted for Australia’s overall population by 2040. So at the moment we are seeing, on the ground, the demands of an ageing population and we certainly have to get that right for the future health needs of our nation, as so many people will be entering that age bracket in the years to come. This is particularly pertinent to rural and regional areas, and I will discuss that shortly. But, as I said, the shortage of doctors and health professionals needs to be urgently addressed right throughout the country.

I further note recommendation 11 in respect of developing standards for the delivery of health services in regional, rural and remote areas. It seems that for too long regional areas have been treated like second-class citizens when it comes to health care, and that is certainly what locals constantly tell me. We need a national system that will ensure that people in regional areas have access to affordable health care as well as adequate resources. We also need a federal policy to recruit and retain doctors in our rural and regional areas. Every day I hear of dire situations in so many smaller towns that have difficulties in recruiting those health professionals. There need to be so many more incentives in place to make sure that we can get trained health professionals to our regional areas. We need to provide more incentives to make sure that we have adequate services in those areas. And this is not just in remote areas; the electorate of Richmond is not that isolated. Even in areas such as Tweed Heads they have difficulty recruiting doctors and health. The recruitment of trained staff across all the health professions is a major concern and it certainly needs to be a major focus.

In closing, it has been a privilege to be a part of the health and ageing committee and I would like to thank all my parliamentary colleagues for the work they have done in the course of the committee inquiry, listening to the concerns of Australians in respect of healthcare issues. I hope the recommendations in this report receive the support of the government and that we see positive changes to the provision of health services, particularly in the funding of dental services—as I said, that is a major need—as well as an increase in the recruitment and retention of healthcare professionals, especially in regional and rural areas where the need is so dire.

Debate (on motion by Mr Neville) adjourned.

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