Darren Chester (Gippsland, National Party, Assistant Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

On the eve of Australia's Healthy Weight Week, from February 15 to 21, I rise to update the House on priority health issues in the Gippsland electorate. One of my aims this year as the member for Gippsland will be to encourage local people to try and live healthier lifestyles. I know that    most people aspire to live well, eat good food and exercise, but it is not always that easy for some sections of our community. Some demographics in particular suffer more severe chronic and acute health challenges across the Gippsland region.

We have, for example, a higher rate than average of type 2 diabetes. Smoking is still prevalent in some sections of my community and we also have an ageing population living with more complex health needs into the future. The cancer survival rates in Gippsland, like those in many other parts of regional Australia, are not as high as they are in metropolitan areas, despite the best efforts of many organisations in my electorate. On that note, I would like to highlight the great work done by Gippsland Rotary Centenary House in supporting people with cancer as they receive treatment at Gippsland Cancer Care Centre. It has been one of the great innovations in Gippsland over the past five or six years, where people are supported to have treatment in their own community.

We are lucky to have health professionals providing guidance and supporting people when they are ill and also with preventative health measures, right through from our general practitioners to the allied health providers—our nurses and counsellors. They are all working to make a difference on a daily basis across Gippsland. We are lucky to have such wonderful health services and health related programs in Gippsland that are supported by both state and Commonwealth governments.

It does not all have to be about hospitals and doctors. We have a strong network of men's sheds to improve mental health outcomes for men in reginal communities. It has been one of the great success stories across regional Australia in recent years. Recently the Commonwealth announced funding to reduce Indigenous smoking rates in Gippsland, which has already shown some positive results as part of a pilot program.

The issue of health was again at the forefront this week with the Hazelwood Mine Fire Inquiry report volume 3, which was tabled in the Victorian parliament. The board made several recommendations in this report and some of these related to Commonwealth government areas of responsibility. I take this opportunity to inform the House that I have written to the Minister for Health, the member for Farrer, to seek her feedback and advice on the recommendations that were made in the mine inquiry report.

I think there are some real opportunities for us not only to learn some lessons from the past in terms of the mine fire but also to take a very positive attitude as we move forward into the future to tackle some of these longer-term health challenges facing the Gippsland region, and specifically the Latrobe Valley community. This will, of course, involve the Victorian government. It has responsibilities in this area as well, but also works very closely with the Commonwealth government through its primary health networks. Instead of seeing these challenges as problems we should see them as opportunities for Gippsland and the Latrobe Valley to become a case study for improving health outcomes in a regional environment.

I am very keen to work with the state and federal health ministers in relation to long-term health outcomes for people in the Latrobe Valley and the broader Gippsland community. I thank the House.

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