Louise Miller-Frost (Boothby, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Well, I'm perhaps not pleased to speak to the neglect of the health sector, including rural health care, since 1990. Obviously this is a slow-moving issue that has been a long time coming. I was one of those women living in a rural location when I had my babies, in 1999. I lived in Karoonda, a town of 300 people in South Australia's Murray Mallee. Notably, my children represented a one per cent increase to the town's population when they were born. Of course, as a high-risk pregnancy I was always going to have them in a high-risk clinic in a major tertiary hospital in the city, but postpartum care for me and my babies was provided in rural hospitals and rural general practices.

The availability of women's health care, including but not limited to maternity care, is of vital importance to the status of women and the status of women's health across the country, and the Albanese Labor government recognises the importance of all women's healthcare needs, including but not limited to maternity care. After a decade of talk from those opposite about women's health, we're taking action. The 2024-25 federal budget has a significant focus on how the healthcare needs of women will be better met. We have committed over $160 million to tailor services, tackle healthcare bias and improve access to health care for women. Women's health and maternity health are not a one-size-fits-all exercise. Not only are there differences in the experiences between women in rural settings and women in cities; different women also have different preferences about how they want to experience their health care. Women have the right to exercise choice and control over their bodies, their healthcare experiences and their birthing experience. The Albanese government has recognised that a woman-centred continuous model of care offered by midwives is often the preferred model for many women.

Childbirth is an intense and an intensely personal experience. It can be exciting and also scary. The relationship a woman builds with her birthing team, often with her midwife in particular, is an important part of a positive birthing experience with a healthy outcome for mother, baby and the family as a whole. To give more women access to their choice of care during pregnancy, we've invested over $56.5 million to add new items to the Medicare Benefits Schedule to support access to more flexible, high-quality and tailored midwifery care. This includes longer antenatal and postnatal consultations—which can be important in difficult pregnancies, pregnancy complications—to ensure a healthy mother and a healthy baby or, in my case, babies.

The Albanese government's investment will give women more choice and facilitate the building of relationships between mother and carer throughout the pregnancy journey. We're opening 12 perinatal mental health centres across the country to support women and families. The perinatal period can be a time of significant stress and change. A mentally healthy mum has positive benefits for the baby and for the family as a whole.

Funding to continue strategies to prevent preterm and early term birth in participating maternity services and First Nations communities will reduce the number of babies born too early. Preterm birth is not only associated with poorer birth outcomes but can affect the health of the baby their entire life, including in later adulthood.

Labor has developed the Woman-centred care: strategic directions for Australian maternity services to provide national strategic direction to support Australia's maternity care system and ensure it reflects contemporary practice. Australian families need to have access to safe, high-quality, respectful maternity care.

Workforce shortages can affect the ability to access safe, quality maternity care. Strengthening maternity workforce supply, training and development is essential. The Australian government is collaborating closely with the state and territory governments to develop a national maternity workforce solution. Cost-of-living support for nurses and midwifery students undertaking mandatory placements as part of their studies will also assist in the workforce strategy, encouraging more students to take up nursing and midwifery and enabling them to complete their studies. I note that Flinders University, based in Boothby, provides training places for nursing students across rural South Australia and the Northern Territory. This is an important part of encouraging graduates to choose rural sites for their careers.

There's a lot happening in this space after decades of neglect. It's about time health services for women got some focus, and this government is doing it.

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