Mark Coulton (Parkes, Deputy-Speaker, Minister for Regional Health, Regional Communications and Local Government) Share this | Hansard source

It is indeed a pleasure for me to making these summing-up remarks. With regard to comments from the member for Dobell, I appreciate her interest in mental health. I was speaking to the Mental Health Commissioner yesterday. I'm sure that as the role of the rural commissioner becomes known some of your fears will be allayed, because the points you make are genuine and real. Thank you.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all the members on both sides of the House for their contributions. It's nice to know that, although at times we have different points of view, when good policy and a program that's actually doing what it's designed to do come through, we have that support.

Continuing the office of the Rural Health Commissioner is a very important part of tackling the challenges around rural health. I know we are very short of time, but in the minute I've got left I would like to thank Emeritus Professor Paul Worley for his outstanding commitment and the body of work that he's done in that role as the first National Rural Health Commissioner. The work that he has done around the generalist pathway and the body of work that he's done on allied health in regional Australia is a valuable resource. Certainly we'll be looking at that.

On behalf of the government, I'd like to thank the many rural health stakeholders and organisations around the nation who have welcomed our decision to continue the office of the Rural Health Commissioner. We are looking forward to working closing with the commissioner and the rural health stakeholders and organisations over coming years to achieve our shared aim of delivering a quality standard of health care for our regional, rural and remote communities, and I commend the bill to the House.

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