David Gillespie (Lyne, National Party, Minister Assisting the Minister for Trade and Investment) Share this | Hansard source

The Health Insurance Amendment (Enhancing the Bonded Medical Program and Other Measures) Bill 2021 provides additional flexibility to support the ongoing administration of the Bonded Medical Program. The bill supports achievement of the program's objectives. Amendments support participants in the program and their interest in seeking to be part of the program. While in the program, it ensures fair and reasonable application of legislative penalties by making them quite appropriate and, most importantly, proportionate. It also supports better administration of breaches of the legacy Medical Rural Bonded Scholarship Scheme, again in the interests of participants, where breaches may be inadvertently incurred.

Overall, the bill enhances the Bonded Medical Program. It allows for more appropriate and efficient administration of bonded programs, and, above all, to meet and support the needs of a modern medical workforce providing crucial health services in regional, rural and remote Australia. The program is one important element of this government's broader Stronger Rural Health Strategy. A highly skilled, well dispersed regional workforce reduces the prevalence and impact of disease, allowing better primary care to be delivered and a better distribution of the medical workforce. It's important that individuals get access to services in their local community, without the burden of travelling large distances and establishing continuity of care and trust. There are many advantages to practising medicine in country Australia rather than metropolitan Australia, and I encourage more doctors, whether they're bonded or not, to choose the rural option.

I'd like to thank all the members for their contribution, including the member for Dobell and the member for Newcastle. There are so many moving pieces in the medical workforce dilemma facing the nation. We have a lot of other policies. They mentioned the Murray-Darling Medical Schools Network, which is extending existing Commonwealth supported places to be trained for much longer, from the beginning to the end of their medical school degree, in regional centres where they're getting, I think, better training than they do when they're based in a metro high-level teaching hospital, because they see much more regular-type medicine and they get much closer clinical experience, tutoring from senior medical practitioners and a great appreciation of country life. The Medical Schools Network is also a great workforce attractant and retention factor, keeping senior medical professional people staying in country areas, because they can be involved in the rural clinical schools, of which we have 21 around the country. They are a great asset and give better training.

However, there is competition amongst all the professions. Way too many people have started going into medical specialties, and that's a dilemma that we are trying to change. General practice is an incredibly important part of the health system. It's the rock and the pillar on which everything stems from, and that's why Australia has got good public health outcomes compared to many other health systems, including well-known ones like the NHS and the American system, which isn't as good as what we have in Australia, which is a mix of private medical practice and salaried medical practice inside a very structured system. Anyhow, these issues are beyond the Bonded Medical Program, which is a good program, but we look forward, with these changes, to delivering better outcomes. I commend the bill to the House.

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