Emma McBride (Dobell, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention) Share this | Hansard source

I want to acknowledge the member for Indi for raising this critical issue of health workforce shortages. It's one of huge importance to Australians across the country, particularly those living in rural and remote Australia. I know from your experience not only as a nurse and midwife but as researcher that you've seen first-hand the importance of having the right healthcare teams in the right places and you've researched innovative solutions. I want to take this opportunity to recognise on behalf of the Prime Minister, the health minister and me, our healthcare workers around Australia for their tireless dedication, not just over the past three years but in particular then. I recognise the staff at Wyong Hospital and Long Jetty Community Health Centre in my electorate. I acknowledge the member for Robertson who continues to volunteer as an ED doctor in our community. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a huge impact on all of us. Our healthcare workers were there each and every day, keeping us safe.

Over the past few months, I've been fortunate, in my role, to travel to dozens of communities around Australia. While each of them face different and unique challenges when it comes to our healthcare system, they all have a singular voice on workforce. What I have heard loud and clear and what has reinforced my own personal experience as a regional healthcare worker is that there just aren't enough healthcare practitioners where we need them. And that's not just doctors, nurses, pharmacists and psychologists; that's all healthcare practitioners and those who work to support them. From Launceston in Tasmania to Cairns in Far North Queensland, there are not enough healthcare practitioners where people need them and when they need them—and affordably. This isn't a problem that only impacts rural and regional communities. This is an issue that starts in the outer suburbs and stretches all the way across Australia.

Since the formation of Medibank by the Whitlam government in the mid-1970s, equitable access to healthcare has been the cornerstone of our nation, grounded firmly in the belief that no matter who you are or where you come from you deserve the best health care Australia has to offer. That's not just for people who live in big cities; it's for all Australians, wherever you're born, wherever you live and whatever your age. The promise of universal health care is one that we on this side of the House take very seriously, but it's a promise that was broken.

There is no excuse, in a country like Australia, with its strong social and economic safety net backed by programs such as Medicare and the NDIS, to stand by while people miss out on care. Yet for the past 10 years the former government did just that. The coalition spruik their support for everyday Australians, but they turned their backs on them, leaving thousands of Australians with little or no access to care right across Australia. That drain on our healthcare system—not just by Mr Morrison, Mr Turnbull or Mr Abbott—has eroded universal health care in Australia, and it is the responsibility of our government and of this parliament to change that. It is a responsibility that we take seriously.

The Albanese government is committed to investing in general practice and strengthening Medicare with almost $1 billion of investment. Our Strengthening Medicare Taskforce, stood up by Minister Butler, has identified the best ways to boost affordability, improve access and deliver better support for Australians with ongoing, complex and chronic illnesses, backed by the $750 million Strengthening Medicare Fund. After our doctors worked tirelessly throughout the pandemic, we will better support them with the resources to invest in their general practices with our $220 million Strengthening Medicare GP Grants Program. We're also investing $146 million to attract and retain more healthcare workers to rural and regional Australia through improving training and incentive programs and supporting the development of innovative models of multidisciplinary care. After a lost decade which has impacted the health and wellbeing of tens of thousands of Australians, our government, the Albanese government, has made health and care and the workforce that underpins it our top priority.

We are finding new ways to better support Australians. We are investing in multidisciplinary team based care. Multidisciplinary team based care supports health professionals from a range of disciplines working in strong collaboration to deliver comprehensive and integrated care that addresses the patient's needs, supported by each member of the team working to their full or top scope of practice. It recognises that everyone's health needs are unique and the rise in complex and chronic illness needs to be supported by skills and expertise from a team of healthcare professionals from a range of disciplines working closely together. This might be delivered by a team of professionals working under one roof or by a group of professionals from a range of organisations, including private practice, brought together as a team. As a person's healthcare needs change over time, the composition of that team may change to meet their needs.

Earlier this year I was able to meet with the full inaugural class of year 1 to year 6 medical students at James Cook University at their Cairns campus. For the first time, students commencing their degree at the university and attending the campus in Cairns will be able to start and finish their studies in Cairns. We know that when kids from rural and remote communities study and do their placements in rural and remote communities they stay and practice in rural and remote communities. That strengthens that community. That builds capacity in those communities. Importantly, it provides better and more affordable care. It's about care for the regions by the regions.

When I visited James Cook University I had the pleasure of meeting Vice Chancellor Professor Simon Briggs. He could not be prouder of the work the university is doing to improve the educational outcomes of his students. Many of them are first in family. Many of them are from low-SES backgrounds. Most of them expressed to me a desire to continue to learn and study and work in regional and remote communities. They want to give back to the communities they're from, they have a strong desire to contribute to the health and wellbeing of their communities, and as a government we're providing the scaffolding to allow them to do that.

In Queensland, nine per cent of health professionals graduate from JCU. But in the outer regions, in remote Queensland, that number jumps to 41 per cent, with roughly one in five health graduates working in outer regional and remote locations graduating from JCU. This is just one of the universities that are part of our rural clinical schools.

In remote communities in Queensland, JCU graduates account for 62 per cent of the health workforce in remote areas. Work like this, working with medical students in rural and remote communities to build a rural and remote workforce, is what our government is supporting. That's why JCU graduates account for 62 per cent of the health workforce in regional and remote Australia, and we're seeing results like this mirrored by other rural clinical schools around Australia.

But more must be done. That's why the government has provided $13.2 million through the 2022-23 budget to JCU to fund 20 commencing medical students through their Commonwealth supported places. We're also funding a further 80 positions for commencing medical students and $81 million in funding through an open competitive grants process, formed as part of the government's strategy to bolster our medical force.

I see this when I visit communities across Australia, and I know the member for Indi knows this through her experience as a healthcare practitioner and researcher, and I know so many people in this House have had the same experience. But it has never been harder to see a doctor. It's never been more expensive. Bulk-billing rates have dropped across Australia. This is after a decade of neglect by the former government.

Private care is in the worst shape I have seen it, since I first registered as a pharmacist in the late 1990s. GPs in my community who have seen Medicare over time have also never seen it in worse shape. That includes my colleague and friend Dr Mike Freelander. Dr Mike said to me that he's in this House because he doesn't want to see health care end up where it was before he started, without Medicare.

That is what I am committed to do, with Minister Butler, as a healthcare worker, as a local MP and in my role assisting the health minister. We are determined to turn this around, to work with local communities to find local solutions, to build capacity, to strengthen their workforce, so every Australian, wherever they live, wherever they're born, wherever they age, can get access to quality care. That's what we're committed to. That's what universal care in a country like Australia should be.

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