Deborah O'Neill (Robertson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of the National Health Reform Amendment (National Health Performance Authority) Bill 2011. This bill is another fundamental step in Labor's reforms to the manner in which health services are provided throughout the Commonwealth. I have to take umbrage at the honourable member of Wannon who was just speaking about the rollout of amazing resources across this country under Labor leadership over the last four years. Since I was last in this place I opened $23 million worth of fantastic new facilities under the Building the Education Revolution program in my seat, and the way that has transformed learning and hope in learning communities on the Central Coast is absolutely phenomenal. The recognition in our community of that capacity to lead, to innovate and to invest in things that matter to Australians is absolutely palpable.

But health is an issue, and we as a government understand that and we will get on with delivering what it is that Australia needs—and it certainly needs what this bill is referring to. This bill is another fundamental step that represents the reforms that the Labor Party is committed to delivering throughout our Commonwealth. It is a victory of cooperation between the Commonwealth and the states and it indicates a commitment to effecting real and needed reform for our health system.

I speak to this bill this evening because the provision of health services on the Central Coast has long been a burning issue for my constituents. Throughout my time as the member for Robertson I aim to work with local agencies to improve the manner in which health services are provided on the Central Coast. This was overwhelmingly the most common issue that constituents raised with me during last year's election campaign. I believe that the provision of a GP superclinic on the Central Coast will do much to help alleviate the unmet demand for health services and integrated health care that wraps around the patient, rather than giving the patients the run-around.

The provision of a GP superclinic in my electorate was an issue on which I campaigned strongly and I am very much looking forward to its delivery. The project is on target, with negotiations with the preferred tenderer now completed, and Reliance GP Super Clinic Pty Ltd has been appointed as the service provider of the GP superclinic. This in itself is an important step in providing people of the Central Coast with greater access to medical care. Reliance will be establishing a new GP superclinic and building on that record of working with local hospitals, local GPs and community organisations. It is also planning to develop an outreach clinic on the Bouddi Peninsula, which currently has no medical services at all, subject to the availability of commercially available zone land. This southern Central Coast GP superclinic intends to provide integrated, multidisciplinary, team based, patient centred health care under one roof and it will certainly take pressure off other GP services around the area. It indicates at my local level the incredible investment that the Gillard government is making in GP superclinics across the country—$528 million committed to build 64 GP superclinics. We obviously have a great commitment to improving the health outcomes and health experiences of those Australians out there who rely on their government to take seriously the need for reform and rebuilding as their needs change.

Despite this great GP superclinic in my electorate, I want to speak on this bill because, in addition to that, there are quite a number of other health services that can certainly be further improved. We need to continue the complete and systematic reorganisation of our health services and set out transparently how they are being supplied throughout the Commonwealth. I believe that this legislation, the National Health Reform Amendment (National Health Performance Authority) Bill 2011, once enacted, will achieve these goals.

The primary reason the Central Coast as a region has had difficulty in meeting demand for health services is that there has been a distinct lack of decision-making power at the local level. This has also been a facilitator for a lack of transparency over the practical challenge of public funding, and it has often been a problem where money has been caught between federal and state governments. This is not the fault of those who work in healthcare management on the Central Coast—in fact, members of the electorate are always telling me how amazing their experiences have been in terms of the care that they receive—but the problems that exist have not been assisted by the fact that the Central Coast did not have its own local healthcare authority. In fact, we were attached to northern Sydney, which has a completely different demographic and a completely different geographical structure to us. I certainly believe that the establishment of the local hospital networks will improve the provision of health care on the Central Coast and in other regions where, similarly, the wrap-around will fit the community, instead of somebody's idea of a community watched from afar. I am also supported in this belief by having met many medical professionals and healthcare workers with whom I have discussed these matters. The reason I believe it will work is that local hospital networks will certainly have a far greater understanding of the healthcare needs of their particular local area—and, in my case, the needs of the people on the Central Coast. Furthermore, because the local hospital networks represent management at a local level, they will be under more direct accountability than any alternative involving a more centralised governance model. This will increase response capacity and it will also increase transparency and accountability to the local community who require the services.

An example of why the Central Coast, including my electorate of Robertson, needs its own local authority is the demographic characteristics of the region. Recently the Australian Bureau of Statistics declared the Central Coast a category 4 region for the collection of data, which is just below the state level, and, for the first time, when the census came through just a week or so ago, they gathered data about the Central Coast as a region. We know, based on the best available evidence at this point in time, that we have a very high proportion of constituents who are of retirement age. At the last census, the percentage of people at or above retirement was almost 19 per cent of our population, compared with a national average of about 13 per cent.

As a result, the Central Coast will be affected more severely by what some people might call the 'pension bomb'—in other words, the process by which the baby boomer generation will transition into retirement. In fact, there is a really important point that needs to be made about the 100 years of excellent health policy and education that has actually led to the arrival of two generations of aged citizens living at the same time. Having worked hard, many of them have decided to come and settle on the beautiful Central Coast and enjoy their retirement years surrounded by our beautiful beaches, bushland and waterways. It is a tribute to the work of those who helped to set up the care and public education to achieve that outcome.

It means, though, that we need to find ways to rise to the challenge that is present in different ways in different communities. The health care of ageing Australians is a challenge that exemplifies exactly why the way we organise the provision of health care needs to be reformed and to be locally responsive. Different local areas can have vastly different healthcare needs, and centralised management will often not address this.

I commend the government and the health minister in their efforts to reform the manner in which health care is funded. As has been explained many times in this place, the Commonwealth will provide half of the funding for meeting the growth in hospital costs. As has been set out in the Intergenerational report and elsewhere, the issues associated with the ageing population are the primary reason that hospital and healthcare costs have continued to grow.

I speak on this bill because I agree that accountability is fundamental in ensuring that the increased demand for health services is properly met through the Commonwealth—and I am most concerned about that in my electorate of Robertson. This bill, through the establishment of the National Health Performance Authority, the NHPA, provides for exactly this kind of accountability. Whilst I understand concerns raised in this debate that the NHPA is possibly an establishment of another layer of bureaucracy, we do need to understand that there has never been a system of ongoing and comprehensive review of how health services are provided. Audit, we understand, is essential for accountability, and the results are essential to drive review and enable ongoing improvement in any institution. The NHPA will provide that. I believe such a system will have immense benefits for how health services are critiqued, funded and developed on the Central Coast.

I also support this bill because it enables the government to be proactive when managing demand for health services. This is provided for under the legislation through the ability of the authority to produce hospital performance reports and health community reports. As a member of parliament, it will be immensely useful to have access to this type of reporting, which will provide comprehensive analysis of the healthcare needs of my electorate. The reporting will enable the government and the proposed local hospital networks to be much more proactive in dealing with issues related to provision of healthcare services. And that can only be a good thing.

The establishment of the Health Performance Authority will enable comprehensive transparency with regard to the operation of both local hospital networks and Medicare Locals. This reporting will enable Australians to have access to comprehensive information as to how both local hospital networks and Medicare Locals are allocating resources. Furthermore, the Health Performance Authority will provide Australians with information as to whether their money is being effectively and efficiently spent by the local hospital networks and Medical Locals. This transparency and accountability will help ensure the continued improvement of health services through the Commonwealth.

This new, groundbreaking legislation up for debate today really concerns the critical issues of transparency and accountability, and it will provide real and practical benefits to the local constituents in my area and right across the country. It does this in addition to devolving the management of hospitals and health services to the local community.

Whilst I speak of the benefits that this legislation will have in my electorate, I emphasise the fact that it will identify those areas right across the country where greater health funding is needed. It is right that Australians should have a fair share and a fair response to improve the outcomes for all of us, not just some of us. Furthermore, the information that the public will have regarding the healthcare system will be clear and objective. It will not be subject to political opinion and bias, and Australians will have an alternative to the information supplied by the media regarding their healthcare system. For a democracy, access to that information unmediated is a very powerful thing. I speak on this bill because I believe that it is a right for Australians to have access to information regarding the state of their healthcare system.

It is time that in the national interest those opposite support this bill and therefore support reform in our healthcare system. It is time that the national interest is thoroughly considered by all those here in the parliament. This legislation breaks new ground in providing Australians with transparency and accountability with regard to how our money is spent on health. The process by which this reform was negotiated with the states was long and difficult, as any negotiation is. But this government and our health minister have never lacked courage and continued to negotiate very constructively with the states with regard to the provision of health services. Despite the pessimism and carping negativity of those opposite and a few setbacks along the way, the government and COAG have pushed through and succeeded in providing real and practical hospital and healthcare reform in the interests of the nation.

Since being elected as the member for Robertson it has always seemed to me that those opposite cannot bear such good news. Any setback, any difficult negotiation and any compromise is heralded by those opposite as evidence of the impending collapse of the country—on a daily basis, no less. But such alarmist nonsense reveals that they have neither the nerve nor the drive nor the endeavour for reform. That is why critical reforms such as this bill have been left to the Labor Party. The Labor Party is the party that values hope for our future, the party that has the courage and the conviction to work through the challenges and arrive at the delivery of good news and practical action for the nation. And I do rather believe that the proposals contained in this bill before parliament are very good news—good news for the state of our national healthcare system, good news for our hospitals and for Medicare, good news for the people of the Central Coast and good news for the Commonwealth of Australia. I look forward to this significant improvement in how our healthcare services are provided and I commend the bill to the House.

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