Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a further contribution to this debate.

Leave granted.

I wanted to rise to respond to some of the comments that have been made. I note that we have had two government members speak on this bill, the member for Longman and the member for Bowman, both good Queenslanders. Sadly, there has been a distinct absence from our regional members, like the Deputy Prime Minister, who has a seat in one of my neighbouring areas and who has a lot at stake when it comes to the potential loss of the GP Access After Hours Service in the Hunter region. Sadly, he can't be in the chamber to speak on this motion today. Likewise, I note the absence of the minister assisting—well, no, he's actually the Minister for Regional Health, a man who should have a primary interest and responsibility in the loss of GP Access After Hours Services in rural and regional communities like mine and the lower Hunter. Sadly, he is not present in the chamber today. Maybe they have matters at hand; let's give them the benefit of the doubt.

I also want to bring the House's attention to a response that I received to a letter I wrote to the Minister for Health, Mr Greg Hunt. Sadly, the minister himself couldn't be bothered responding to me personally but got his chief of staff to write a letter back to me, which really just said, to all of the tens of thousands of families in our region: 'Well, you know what? This clinic is going to close. The Martyr Hospital Clinic will be closing on Christmas Eve. We have zero intention of restoring funding to that service. That will be closing. So merry Christmas, Lower Hunter.' The biggest Christmas Grinch of all, this Minister for Health, is giving us the worst possible Christmas present, the closure of a GP Access After Hours Clinic at the Martyr Hospital. He says: 'That clinic is going to close. And you know what? You can just tell all the families in your electorate, Sharon, to get in the car and drive to another clinic.'

This is a minister that clearly doesn't live in our region. He doesn't understand the importance of this service for vulnerable families and he doesn't understand the lack of public transport that might make connections between these respective clinics difficult. It is an outrageous proposition and an absolute insult to my community, to the communities in the Shortland, Patterson and Hunter electorates. Indeed, as the member for Dobell made clear, this issue stretches to the Central Coast as well. What an insult. For members opposite to suggest that there is no undermining of Medicare taking place by this government, I remind this House that this threat to our GP Access After Hours Clinic comes off the back of ongoing cuts to Medicare and our universal health system. There have been cuts to the bulk-billing incentive payments, which have seen GP surgeries close their doors in my electorate; cuts to the MBS program, which have seen increased out-of-pocket costs for patients; and the redefining of our region from an area of need to a metropolitan area where, suddenly, we apparently don't have any GP shortages. I'll tell you what: that's news to my GPs and it's news to all of my constituents. This government seems to forget all the years and years and years of Medicare rebate freezes. Do not come to this chamber and say that you are somehow investing in primary health care in our region. This is not true. I heard the member for Longman say that he was looking forward to a renewed service on Bribie Island. You know what? Good luck to those people. I suspect there has been a great helping hand from the Labor Palaszczuk government up there to ensure that there are good health services in Queensland.

I don't want to see a situation where a region like the lower Hunter misses out on having a quality primary health service. It is a unique service in the Hunter. Don't try and push us into some cookie-cutter national model that you've got in mind, because we predate all of that. Our service is owned by our community. It is owned by our GPs. More than 240 GPs volunteer their time to be rostered on to this service. It is a unique service in our region. It is a local response to what has been an issue of access to affordable, quality healthcare services in our region. So step up and take responsibility, Mr Morrison.

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