Mark Coulton (Parkes, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Hansard source

This motion is most appropriate. One of the issues that constantly comes to my three offices in western New South Wales is vacancies and the need for more health professionals. As of yesterday, it's been 17 years since I was elected. The Member for Blair and I turned up on the same day. There have always been attempts to look for a silver bullet—the quick answer to fixing these problems.

With regard to health, we've actually made it considerably worse. The idea of paying health professionals, whether they're doctors, nurses or in allied health, considerably more to go and work as locums has actually meant that it is now a pathway for people to choose as a career. I asked why someone would choose to go and hang up their shingle and work for 40 or 50 years as a local GP when they can fly in and fly out and earn considerably more money? The problem with that is that the standard of health is much lower. It doesn't matter how qualified that person is; health is all about relationships. It's all about having a person you know and can trust and having those critical discussions—end-of-life care, aged care and all of those things.

I could point to the time when I was a regional health minister and working with the then Rural Health Commissioner, Professor Ruth Stewart. We worked with ACRRM and considerably increased the numbers of training places for the generalist pathway. Part of the problem was that general practitioners were getting trained in specific areas but they didn't have the qualifications to go into a rural region where they may have needed more skills in emergency medicine but also other skills such as in anaesthetics or obstetrics—something that could benefit a broader range of patients.

There was a reluctance to go out, but changing the John Flynn program from being a student experience to putting that money into more actual training places in regional areas has significantly given more people that opportunity to train in a regional area. We've also had a generalist training program for allied health so they can actually have a broader range. It makes a difference. When this government came in and changed the rules around distribution priority areas, just so people know, those that live in the peri-urban areas, that week my electorate lost six doctors from the most underprivileged needy communities in western New South Wales. It was done for a reason. That was put in place so doctors who had obligations to meet as part of their qualification to work in Australia would go to certain areas. Six doctors went to less underprivileged areas, peri-urban areas, areas on the coast. That issue itself has been overhanging regional areas. I just want to leave the message to this place that decisions here matter. Everyone thinks they live in the most disadvantaged part of Australia. Even people in the capital cities talk about their need for more doctors. That's fine, but don't take them from western New South Wales, where the need is the greatest. I commend Dr Webster on her motion and understand that regional health is very important.

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