Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to put on record my thanks to the member for Parramatta for standing in for me and making a contribution to this debate. I know she is quite passionate about health issues. The reason she stood in for me was that I was in my office meeting with Dane and, his mother, Kim Boyd from the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation. I would like to note that we have present in the House some young people who are here to meet with members of parliament to educate us about juvenile diabetes. I welcome them to the House, and I thank the member for Parramatta for allowing me to meet with Dane and his mother.

To start my contribution to the debate, Mr Deputy Speaker Georganas, I would like to acknowledge the role that you played as chair of the committee. I also acknowledge my colleague the member for Kingston, from South Australia, who was also a part of the delegation that visited PNG and the Solomon Islands. I would like to thank the committee secretariat, particularly Sara Edson, whom I notice is in the House with us today, for her enormous contribution and for looking after us. Every time we turned around she had the sunscreen that we needed and sound advice. Thank you, Sara. I also put on record my thanks to AusAID, DFAT, the government representatives we met in both PNG and the Solomon Islands and the NGO groups that we met with. I would also like to thank those in Australia—Queensland Health, the NGOs and other professionals—who briefed us on the issues prior to us visiting PNG and the Solomon Islands, and when we visited the Torres Strait Islands, which was quite an education in itself.

Mr Deputy Speaker, you would be well aware that the Australian government made an enormous commitment to our relationship with PNG and the Pacific islands in the area of health in the 2009-10 budget. Official development assistance to PNG and the Pacific region was set at $1.9 billion. Of that, $133 million was to be spent in the area of health. This shows Australia’s commitment to developing a strong partnership with the Pacific nations.

It was only when I visited the Torres Strait Islands and saw the treaty and how the treaty worked in practice that I truly understood how close PNG was to Australia and how there were so many shared issues between our two countries. It also made me aware of issues that existed on both sides of the border. When the committee visited the Torres Strait we met with people that lived in the Torres Strait and we heard their concerns about health issues and about diseases being brought from across the border, from PNG to Australia, diseases such as TB and sexually-transmitted diseases, and their concerns that the health resources, particularly on Saibai where there is an excellent health clinic, were being stretched to the extreme.

It was interesting to visit the clinic. On the day we visited Saibai there were some people who had come across the Torres Strait from PNG. As a little aside, we met some of those people when we visited one of the villages and one of the villagers remembered the member for Kingston and presented her with a spear, which I know she displays proudly.

But when we were in the Torres Strait we learnt of the health issues that are so predominant in PNG. There is poor child and maternal health and the backup if a woman gets into trouble when she is giving birth is limited. We heard of an occasion when a woman had been involved in giving birth for two days and the baby was actually stuck. It was only because she could link into the health services that were available within Australia that her life was saved.

I would like to turn very quickly to recommendation 2 of the report, which highlights the fact that we need to support this partnership. The recommendation was that collaborative research be undertaken between PNG and the Solomon Islands and the Torres Strait Islands into sexually-transmitted diseases and the network. There is not a lot of information around. We need to demystify a number of the issues relating to this particular area and it could best be done by collaborative research on both sides of the border.

I would like to turn to PNG. There are enormous challenges within the health system in PNG. We talk about challenges here in Australia where we are looking at health reform currently. Our health reform will actually put Australia at the absolute cutting edge of delivery of health services. It is only when you visit places like Port Moresby and Daru, where we visited the hospital, that you can appreciate the challenges faced by health professionals in trying to deliver health services to people that have very high health needs. We learnt about how challenging the delivery of health services in those areas can be. And then there are the treaty villages, which are very remote. As the chair of the committee mentioned, it takes 30 minutes by banana boat from Australia, but it takes a lot longer to get to Daru. It highlighted a number of issues when we were in PNG.

There is little likelihood that Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5, which I believe are very important, will be met in PNG. For things to improve in PNG, we need to commit to a strong partnership with them. We need to commit to helping PNG develop their resources and we need to partner with them on programs that are directed at violence against women. I think that violence against women in PNG and the Solomon Islands is an issue that impacts on the health of both of those nations. I noticed this morning that a report has been released on alcohol abuse in both PNG and the Pacific area. Maybe as this unfolds we will find there is a correlation between the abuse of alcohol and violence against women. It is only by developing partnerships with PNG and the Solomon Islands within our law enforcement agencies, which Australia has been doing for quite some time, and between our educational institutions, health institutions, governments and government departments that this can be effective.

The other thing that struck me both in PNG and in the Solomon Islands was the dedication of those health workers who are involved in those countries. Unique programs are being run in those countries. One of the programs that I found particularly exciting was the one where health workers and other people were going out and working with sex workers in the community to teach them about safe sex and trying to educate them in a way that would counteract the effects of HIV, because HIV is quite rampant in PNG. One of the things that actually protects certain areas is the remoteness of the country. As remote settlements are connected, it will lead to an increase in sexually transmitted diseases—in particular, HIV. There is some fantastic work being conducted by aid agencies in both countries.

As I think was previously mentioned by the chair—and I am sure the member for Kingston will have mentioned it too—climate change is having an impact on those communities in the Solomon Islands. When we visited Ghizo Island we saw how the water had moved closer to the hospital, and the hospital would need to be moved to ensure its safety. We also saw the impact that climate change has had on surrounding island communities, where they had to leave their homes and move to the island of Ghizo. Associated with climate change are increases in malaria and dengue fever and the creation of more health challenges for those communities. I have to note in my contribution to this debate that there has been some fantastic work done in relation to malaria in the Solomon Islands, and we were fortunate enough to meet with some experts in that area.

I think one of the things that we can really do, other than give financial support, is contribute through partnerships with different organisations and groups and develop the process of mentoring—being there and being able to provide support as requested from communities in both the Solomon Islands and PNG. We were fortunate enough to meet some wonderful women who were interested in politics. I think the women in this parliament could develop some formal relationships to help mentor those women, because entering politics and becoming a member of parliament increases their ability to have input into decisions that will influence the health of women within their nation.

Another important issue is that we as a nation should listen to the communities in those countries. Any expenditure of money, any aid programs that we undertake, should be driven by the communities and countries in which those programs are delivered. We learnt that, quite often, the programs that are unsuccessful have been imposed on the communities from outside, while the ones that are successful are community driven. So I think it is very important that what we do in relation to the delivery of health services and health infrastructure is driven by the countries we are involved with.

The trip was a fantastic experience. I feel very privileged to have visited some places that have never been visited by members of the Australian parliament before. I hope that the recommendations we have made in our report will really make a difference. Once again I thank the secretariat and, in particular, Sara Edson for her contribution. (Time expired)

Debate (on motion by Mr Briggs) adjourned.

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