Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Justice and Customs) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the House:

(1)

supports long term viability of regional and rural medical practices, hospitals and services;

(2)

notes with concern the failure of state governments to provide adequate health services for Australians living in regional, rural and remote areas, particularly in relation to cross border health;

(3)

acknowledges the Royal Flying Doctor Service and the significant contribution it makes by providing aeromedical emergency and primary health care services to people who live, work and travel in regional and remote Australia;

(4)

calls on the Australian Government to eliminate inequality in healthcare access and services experienced by those living in rural and remote areas by:

(a)

increasing the recruitment and retention of rural medical practitioners and health care professionals;

(b)

assisting Australians who live in regional, rural and remote areas with the cost of travel to specialist medical appointments in capital cities and regional centres; and

(c)

providing adequate funding to maintain and expand small rural hospitals and health services and their maternity and other procedural services.

I am pleased to move this motion on rural health and, I hope, give the issue of the health and medical services of rural Australians some prominence in this parliament. Australia is one of the most urbanised nations in the world, and this Labor government is one of the most urbanised governments we have ever had. It is actually difficult to find one government MP who has lived a life and run a business in rural Australia. This is of concern because, with our declining rural population, we need champions for the bush, and in this place I see too few.

I represent over 95,000 people in rural and regional Australia, and in these areas we have health services of a considerably lesser standard to those in the capital cities. All patients, no matter where they are, should be afforded the same care and support, but this is not happening. The New South Wales state government, in particular, has failed my constituents time and time again. Overworked doctors and nurses should not have to help cover the bills for medical supplies in the hospitals in which they work, and local service clubs should not have to fundraise all year round just to buy basic hospital equipment.

It is fairly well known that the New South Wales government is in a state of recession and that its health services are battling to pay their bills. Ordinary recurrent operating expenses are not being met. This, were it to happen in Sydney or Melbourne, would be highlighted as an utter disgrace. Good health outcomes are very much about early intervention, and I really think this is the key because time and again too much time passes between symptoms being noticed, a proper diagnosis being made and medical attention actually arriving. I cannot stand it as a local member when I hear the stories of people who say, ‘It was just too far,’ or, ‘We could not afford it,’ or, ‘We did not know,’ or, ‘The specialist was not visiting.’ That is really not good enough. The Rural Doctors Association says that rural communities’ access to early medical intervention is:

… currently compromised by metrocentric policies, shortfalls in appropriately trained personnel and inadequate funding systems and systems that jeopardize sustainable local emergency services.

As the federal member for an electorate that bounds three states, I am always surprised at the restrictions that prohibit doctors from practising in two states at once. It is incredible to me that the New South Wales, Victorian and South Australian state governments cannot—or will not—make it easier for doctors to practice in two states in order to provide suitable health outcomes for the residents of their states. In Farrer, there has been much talk of cross-border health agreements for years. I have yet to see one successful completed agreement. There has been much grandstanding and many promises. In fact, there is supposed to be an arrangement in Albury-Wodonga by July 2009. I will watch closely to see how this develops.

At the more western end of my electorate, there is trouble getting GPs and health workers because communities just cannot offer the salaries those professionals would attract in either a more remote area of Australia or a big city practice. In instances that have been quoted to me recently where a doctor is found who is willing to work for the wages that are able to be paid, on becoming tied down in interstate bureaucracy and differing licensing requirements the doctor, in many instances, just gives up and looks for work elsewhere. The ability to attract doctors to regional Albury was of such concern that a local group of health professionals formed their own working party, and employed someone with their own funds, in order to recruit a new generation of GPs, specialists, psychiatrists et cetera. They were concerned that the ageing of the current doctors meant that our community would soon be without doctors. It has been a successful program and I commend them on the initiative, but it should not have had to come to that.

In the town of Finley, the area health service was not able to negotiate an agreement to retain the services of a doctor in the town. The local nursing home took on the task. Since I was elected as member for Farrer in 2001, the Tocumwal community has lobbied for an ambulance station for eight years. Everyone knows they need an ambulance station but still there is not one. Last year in the New South Wales state parliament, my colleague John Williams, the member for Murray-Darling, raised the issue of renal dialysis, outlining that a government study had said that there would be a massive explosion in demand for renal dialysis services, a major driver being the increase in Aboriginals having a high rate of kidney failure which required renal dialysis. But in Deniliquin, in my electorate, at least five people were travelling to Shepparton for renal dialysis services—a round trip of 500 kilometres. The Rotary club raised community funds to purchase a renal dialysis chair for the local hospital, but the Minister for Health refused to negotiate or commit. These are examples of how the rural people that I represent struggle on a daily basis for the same services as their city relatives. Admittedly, it is a positive story of their resourcefulness and resilience, but it should not have had to come to this. (Time expired)

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