David Gillespie (Lyne, National Party, Assistant Minister for Health) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all members on all sides of the chamber for their contributions to this debate on the Health Insurance Amendment (National Rural Health Commissioner) Bill 2017. I thank them for the suggestions they put forward to me directly and during their speeches, which I have endeavoured to incorporate into this legislation. To my Nationals and Liberal colleagues, thank you for your contributions. To the members for Indi, Mayo, Lingiari, Whitlam and many others, as well as my colleague the member for Makin, the shadow minister, opposite: thank you for your contributions.

There are a few things I would like to summarise and point out again. The legislation and the funding commitment over the forward estimates does allow the coalition government to deliver on an election promise in the lead-up to 2016 made by my colleague Senator Fiona Nash. I anticipate that the role will indeed achieve its broader objectives in helping to deliver all the critical outcomes about which many of us are in furious agreement as to the need for reform and better outcomes. I am hopeful that, in the future, further support can be obtained in both a budgetary and a legislative context.

Several people have spoken up about the scope of work the Rural Health Commissioner will be asked to perform, and I would just reinforce, as I mentioned in my second reading speech, that it will be the first and most pressing duty of the Rural Health Commissioner to address the issue of the medical workforce and coordinate with all the various stakeholders, which are numerous, in the development of a rural generalist pathway. The commissioner will provide advice in relation to rural health beyond that. There are very many other matters in which the Rural Health Commissioner will have to be involved, in policy development and championing causes.

I understand the value of multidisciplinary health, and so does just about anyone that works in the health space, particularly in the rural workforce, where there is multidisciplinary care and—whether it is rural or very remote—teamwork is paramount. As I said in my earlier speech—I will quote my own words, just so there is no ambiguity in any way or form about how I think there are more roles for the Rural Health Commissioner than what was alluded to:

While the development of the pathways will be the commissioner's first priority, the needs of nursing, dental health, pharmacy, Indigenous health, mental health, midwifery, occupational therapy, physical therapy and other allied health stakeholders will also be considered.

Health-care planning, programs and service delivery models must be adapted to meet the widely differing health needs of rural communities and overcome the challenges of geographic spread, low population density, limited infrastructure and the significantly higher costs of rural and remote health-care delivery.

In rural and remote areas, partnerships across health-care sectors and between health-care providers and other sectors will help address the economic and social determinants of health that are essential to meeting the needs of these communities. The commissioner will form and strengthen these relationships, across the professions and for all the communities.

There were other comments made about an independent or a voluntary advisory group to help the Rural Health Commissioner, and in fact I have brought to the attention of some of the speakers this evening that we do indeed have, and have already set up, a rural stakeholder round table, which last met on 16 November 2016, and the idea that they would work with the Rural Health Commissioner has been established. There were 18 attendees at the last meeting, across all the stakeholder groups in the rural health space. There was the Dental Association, Indigenous health Australia—I could go through a long list, but I just mentioned that there were 18 different stakeholders. It was not an isolated group of people by any means. We had all the voices at the table and the role of the Rural Health Commissioner was spoken about at length, and that person taking advice from that stakeholder meeting and attending it as well was spoken about.

Also, separate from this legislation, workforce distribution has been raised as a big issue, and within the department I am establishing a distribution working group that will also work with the health commissioner, and there will be representatives from rural health stakeholders as well. The commissioner would be a member of that distribution working group and could use the group to take advice on other of the commissioner's functions.

So it is always good to flush out good advice and good ideas. I am open to good ideas. But I think there is genuine and universal support for the position. As I mentioned, we have established funding for it up to the defined period, but I am sure it will be a successful role, and I will lend my executive and other support on that basis going forward after that period. I commend the bill to the House.

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