Yvette D'Ath (Petrie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

My question concerning the 2010-11 Commonwealth budget is about the Rudd government’s commitment to massively increase funding for the health workforce. The minister has a firsthand knowledge of how important the health workforce is to my local community, having twice visited the Redcliffe Hospital to talk with health professionals and to turn the sod for the Redcliffe GP superclinic, to be known as the Moreton Bay Integrated Care Centre.

I heard from the member for Lyne before that he would like a GP superclinic in his area, but he also wants a clinic that focuses on training. I suggest to the member for Lyne that I have the best practice model to use as far as building a GP superclinic and training are concerned, because my superclinic is being built by the Redcliffe Hospital Foundation and partnering with the University of Queensland’s School of Medicine. Consequently, not only will it be providing services to its GP medical centre seven days a week up to 10 pm at night on hospital grounds, taking the pressure off the emergency department, but it will also be training GPs and nurses and have a dental school, with specialist training going on throughout the centre.

One of the things I was most surprised about as a new member of parliament was the poor state our workforce planning was left in by the now Leader of the Opposition. Until the election of the Rudd Labor government, there was a freeze on GP training places right across Australia. At a time when we had a shortage of GPs in the community, the Liberal Party actually imposed a cap on the number of training places for GPs. The Leader of the Opposition is also responsible for the legacy of a shortage of nurses in the community. This is a health system that he says was in good shape in November 2007. Can the health minister outline to the House the work that this Rudd government is doing to turn around the disastrous state workforce planning was left in after 12 years of a Liberal government?

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