Katie Allen (Higgins, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It's been a tough start to the year and, indeed, the decade for Australians. The devastating bushfires have been tough for many in bushfire affected communities. But the bushfire recovery effort has already begun, and the Morrison government, the Rural Fire Service, the Country Fire Authority and the Australian Defence Force are all to be congratulated on their timely and practical response to the fires.

The Minister for Health, Greg Hunt, has made a number of important announcements that will ensure the health and wellbeing of these communities now and into the future. This includes $76 million for assistance with mental health in the gruelling period of recovery for those fire affected communities. My in-laws were affected by the bushfires on Black Saturday. Having watched that community recover from the bushfire, I know it doesn't take days and it doesn't take weeks; it takes months to years. Ensuring that we have support for these people as they rebuild their lives and their communities is essential.

A further $5 million has been committed to undertake medical research into the health effects of the fires and to understand what can be done to prevent adverse health consequences in any future events. We all know about the smoke pools across the major cities on the east coast. It will be important to understand not just the effect that has on immediate admissions to hospitals with asthma but also the long-term effects that may occur. We need to make sure we can monitor those aspects.

But it's not just immediate help that these rural communities are going to require. In the long run, all levels of government will need to work together to make sure we support and sustain health services in these rural and remote communities as they rebuild. I'd like to pick up on a point that the Minister for Health, the Hon. Greg Hunt, made about attracting and retaining rural GPs to remote and rural communities. Approximately 80 per cent of Australia's population lives on the east coast of Australia, meaning there are huge expanses of sparsely populated areas. Attracting and retaining rural GPs is one of the biggest challenges facing rural and regional health services. The distance between towns, and the cost of providing health services with towns getting smaller, makes it harder to attract professionals like doctors. It can be harder to find a spouse or a partner. They're away from family and friends. It's very important in this rebuild that we make note that, as these communities are under stress, so too are the services that will be provided to them.

The federal government has announced recently a rural generalist pathway. This is a really important initiative. It's the creation of a new specialty known as the rural generalist medicine pathway, and it sits under the specialty of general practice. The Australian government has allocated $62 million to the pathway. It's supporting 186 rural generalist training positions, with another 100 in 2021. It builds on the government's $550 million Stronger Rural Health Strategy.

Local GPs in the country do so much work and it is so varied. Births, chronic disease management, palliative care, emergency services, surgery and dealing with the rise of mental health issues are just a few of the daily issues that can face a local GP. We need to incentivise doctors to stay in these country towns or return back to their home town once they've completed their training in the city. It is a two-way street. If you have a well-serviced town with a good doctor, people will stay. If you have a town that's busy with patients, doctors will stay.

The commitment of successive governments to the delivery of innovative services has helped bridge the gap in health outcomes for Australians living in rural and remote communities. As a nation, we have benefited from the emergence of the digital age for those in rural and remote communities. They can now access telehealth, meaning a doctor is just a phone call or a video chat away. There has also been an increase in funding to regional universities. There has been a federal government workforce incentive program for the doctors' stream.

Most importantly, at the heart of these intentions is a commitment to support and encourage equitable access to high-quality health care for those who don't live in our cities. The government's announcement on creating a national rural generalist pathway helps deliver on that vision. As a country, as we rebuild after these terrible bushfires, it will be important to make sure that we provide the services needed by all Australians across this wide brown land.

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