Michelle Landry (Capricornia, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today in support of the Health Insurance Amendment (National Rural Health Commissioner) Bill. I applaud Dr David Gillespie for having the courage to put this bill forward with insight, common sense and practicality. We promised the people of regional, rural and remote Australia that we would deliver and champion better health services. Through this bill we will be taking the first steps to deliver on this promise. The rural health groups of my electorate of Capricornia have welcomed the announcement and look forward to working with the commissioner to deliver better services. In particular, I support this bill because: firstly, it aims to bridge the gap in regional health services; secondly, it is practical in approach by being collaborative with local experts who live and breathe regional health daily; and, finally, it aims to take real measures to attract rural generalists to the regions that most need them through an incentive program.

The tyranny of distance will always be a challenge for regional Australia. The people of regional Australia already endure fewer services, reduced communication facilities, lower incomes and fewer job opportunities. When it comes to health, the facts speak for themselves. The per-capita ratio of doctors working in Australia's major cities compared to regional and remote areas varies considerably. In 2011, the per-capita ratio of GPs to population in major cities was double that of remote areas and considerably higher than the ratio of GPs in regional areas.

Health outcomes for people of regional Australia mean higher rates of death than the cities. That is mothers, fathers and children dying because they do not have the same access to health care. They are dying at higher rates from coronary heart disease, other circulatory diseases, motor vehicle accidents and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Eighty-five percent of Australia's specialists work in major cities. In regional areas, the ratio of specialists per capita is half that of major cities. In remote areas, the number of specialists is comparable to Third World countries. It is high time that we seek to address this divide by taking real and practical measures to review health services. Through the commissioner, the Turnbull-Joyce government is bridging this gap.

This bill and the National Rural Health Commissioner mandate must be passed. We must work to bring doctors to the regions instead of regional patients to the doctors. This is not just in the pursuit of equity for all Australians. The cost of seeing a doctor for many rural, regional and remote people has a number of financial implications for the individual and for the government. On a recent trip to the north of my electorate, I had the good fortune to be shown firsthand the impractical realities of having to travel just to see the doctor. Most people living in major cities would baulk and cry foul at the idea of having to travel hundreds of kilometres just to see a GP, let alone a specialist. This is the daily reality for people in the country. Many farms are multigenerational. When someone gets sick, it is not just the patient who suffers. Family members often need to take time off work to get the patient to a medical practitioner. When it is a sick child, that is additional time away from school, putting them further behind in educational advancement. This is time and money away from their dependants and their work. Getting doctors to where they are needed not only ensures that regional Australians get the healthcare most take for granted, it means less time away for supporting staff members, which improves the productivity of the communities they live in. Living remotely is tough enough—we know the rate of suicide is higher than in cities, we know that remote and rural families are more financially susceptible to weather incidents, and we know that people in rural areas travel further on country roads. These factors combine to create additional health concerns for people in rural, remote and regional communities.

Most importantly, the bill will provide unbiased expertise, working with the professionals who deal with remote, regional and rural health on a daily basis. This is exactly the type of collaboration that will deliver real outcomes for the people living in these communities. This is not about party politics and pointscoring; this is about giving people in regional Australia a fair go when it comes to health. The bill proposes an independent body that will operate independently, working with all sectors of the government and with rural health providers. In my discussions with local medical experts, I have been informed that we need to prepare regions for the medical needs of a future population. We need better mental health services, better aged-care services and easier access to generalist health care. By addressing these issues with the community, the commissioner will be working directly at the coalface of regional health and finding real solutions that benefit the families of regional Australia. This collaboration will be the key to success.

In my electorate of Capricornia, we have the capacity to deliver the training and programs required. Universities, local and state governments all have a role to play in addressing the issue of regional health. Rockhampton is perfectly positioned to become a leader in training doctors to prepare them for the challenges of working in the bush while providing a support network in a regional area for those working in the field.

Finally, there is an absolute need to incentivise rural generalists. Doctors working in regional, remote and rural areas work longer, have less access to peer support and, due to living regionally, have less access to services enjoyed by their city counterparts. The development of the national rural generalist pathway will improve access to training for doctors in rural, regional and remote Australia and will recognise the unique combination of skills required for the role of a rural generalist. It is not an easy task for a young graduate doctor heading for regional Australia. They will be isolated from their peers and isolated from their families. They will deal with matters that they did not expect, and they will be doing so without the support of a large medical team. If we realistically expect these doctors to head out into the country, then we need to expect them to receive some form of compensation. A by-product of this bill may be improved attention to health in regional areas. Decent health care will make it easier to attract other professionals to the regions, in turn driving demand for additional services.

Australia faces considerable challenges in meeting the health needs of all Australians. We have a wonderful, diverse and widespread land, but this comes at a cost to those building our economy from outside the city centres. The commissioner will work with rural, regional and remote communities, the health sector, universities, specialist training colleges and across all levels of government to improve rural health policies. I support better health outcomes for rural, regional and remote Australia. I commend the work that has gone into the role of the National Rural Health Commissioner and the national rural health pathway. It is time that we bridge the gap in health care.

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