Ms Catherine King (Ballarat, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Health) Share this | Hansard source

I too commend the member for Murray for bringing this motion here before the House. As the former Parliamentary Secretary for Health and Ageing in a previous life and then a minister for regional affairs, I think I have a fairly unique perspective on this very important issue before the chamber. I want to pay tribute to the work of previous health ministers, particularly Michael Wooldridge and Tony Abbott, through to Nicola Roxon and Tanya Plibersek, who all have supported the continuation of the clinical rural medical schools, some 17 schools managed by 16 universities, providing critical opportunities not only for rural kids but also for the many patients in those regional areas who are desperately trying to access those services.

I particularly want to recognise two of those schools, at Deakin University and the University of Melbourne—and I know the member for Murray has a very long association with Melbourne university's rural clinic. They both run rural clinical schools in my own electorate of Ballarat, and I have met many of those fantastic students and I know the many opportunities that are being provided to them. I also particularly want to mention the clinicians who are training these young people. GPs' and specialists' lives are incredibly busy, and the fact that they are making a commitment through the rural clinical schools to continue training really is a tribute to them and to their communities.

I am very proud of the work that Labor did in expanding accommodation as part of the Rural Clinical Schools program and across a range of other programs within the Health portfolio. That has brought many more opportunities to students in our regions, and I certainly want to commend the member for Murray for bringing this motion before the chamber.

One of the things that I was delighted to see was the opening of one of the accommodation facilities in the small town of Daylesford, which has struggled to get a doctor. Again, I am very proud that Labor was able to initiate some 32-bed accommodation facilities being provided for rural clinical students. We know that rural kids want to stay in rural communities as much as they possibly can and are more likely to do so, and these rural clinical schools really have been a success story. Of course, we have a long way to go to continue to make sure that the inequality in health is done away with, but certainly the work of the rural clinical schools and the motion before the House are a good start.

Debate interrupted.

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