Andrew Gee (Calare, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

Australia is often called the land of opportunity, where each and every one of us has the chance to thrive and reach our full potential. Yet there exists a stark divide in health outcomes between people who live in cities and those who call the bush home. In fact, the further away you live from a city the sooner you're likely to die—and that's the cold, hard truth. Statistics from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare reveal that, devastatingly, people who live in very remote areas die about 15 years earlier than their city cousins. With close to one-third of the Australian population living in the regions, how can this possibly be? The answer is simple: country people have less access to doctors such as GPs, who are often the first point of contact when someone feels sick or has a health problem.

I've had many people across my electorate of Calare and beyond contact me about the shortage of doctors in rural and regional Australia. Dr John England OAM is a consultant physician and cardiologist. With heart specialists leaving Dubbo and Bathurst and no word of replacements, he services large parts of the Central West. He recently held a free vaccination clinic in Gulgong, a town of 2,000 people which once had four doctors and now has none, with no sign of any doctors moving there. He sees patients with serious heart conditions from Rylstone and Kandos who face a year-long wait to see a cardiologist in Orange. He writes, 'They would be dead waiting,' if he didn't see them.

Chris Prest from Canowindra wrote to me regarding the imminent closure of the Canowindra medical practice in June this year. The only other doctors in Canowindra have closed their books, due to being full. Chris writes: 'The loss of a doctor is a very significant event in a small town, with a massive impact. If the doctor is not replaced, I can see the ED at Canowindra hospital being overwhelmed by people seeking medical treatment usually provided by their local doctor.'

Jennifer Hughan from Orange contacted my office about the extensive waiting times for children in the area requiring an ear, nose and throat specialist. Her four-year-old daughter faced a seven-month wait to see an ENT specialist and now faces at least a one-year wait for surgery in Orange. One thousand children are currently waiting for ENT surgery in town.

The devastating regional doctor shortage has been made much worse by the government's changes to the distribution priority area system in 2022. Originally, overseas trained doctors who moved to Australia were required to practise in the bush for several years. Now, they are allowed to practise in city areas, like Hornsby, Warringah, Fairfield and Penrith. According to the Department of Health and Aged Care, in the six months following the changes to the DPA, the number of GPs that moved away from country practice jumped by more than 55 per cent on previous years. The mayor of Blayney Shire Council, Scott Ferguson, has reiterated that, 'This is simply devastating for health services in country areas like Blayney.'

In addition to ruining the DPA system, the government scrapped the planned Western Sydney University regional training hub at Bathurst. If we are to solve this crisis, there needs to be agreement across Capital Hill that country people deserve the same access to medical services as people in the cities. Evidence has shown that, if you train doctors in the bush, they will be very likely to stay and practise in the bush. That's why I strongly advocated to get the CSU medical school in Orange up and running. Places at the medical school are in high demand, with around 1,000 people applying for just over 30 places on offer each year. That's why it was shocking that, at a time when the shortage of doctors in country areas has never been more acute, the government did not award the CSU medical school with any additional Commonwealth supported places last year. This is disgraceful. The government needs to get serious about alleviating the rural doctor shortage.

Chris Prest from Canowindra, who I quoted earlier, also said in her letter to me, 'Too frequently policies can get in the way of solving the problem, which is very annoying.' I couldn't agree more. But, as Chris and everyone in the country knows, it's more than annoying. To regional, remote and rural people, it's fatal.

Together in this House and the other place we have the power to cure this crisis. Country people demand and deserve nothing less than equality in access to doctors and medical services. Lives are at stake, and immediate action from the government is required. Get on with it on the double.

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