Bridget Archer (Bass, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise tonight to speak in relation to health care. In particular, I welcome the government's announcements in recent days about their women's health initiatives. These are really important initiatives, delivering $573 million for women's health: cheaper and better access to oral health contraceptive pills, IUDs and birth-control implants; new Medicare support for women experiencing menopause and perimenopause; new menopause hormone therapies added to the PBS; and more endometriosis and pelvic pain clinics.

As we heard statements this morning from both the assistant minister and the shadow minister in this space, these are bipartisan commitments. They are long overdue commitments to women's health in this country, and something I have felt very passionately about for some time and have advocated for in the last term of this parliament. Through my role of co-chair of the Parliamentary Friends of Women's Health, along with my friend the late Peta Murphy, we have championed many of these issues in this term of parliament. I've heard from advocates and patients who have experienced longstanding challenges in relation to the many issues that women face over the course of their lifetimes in terms of reproductive health, sexual health and menopause health. I really welcome these announcements and they have been welcomed by local practitioners in my community as well.

This also gives me an opportunity to talk about the innovative holistic GP service that exists in my community, called the Bubble. The Bubble is a specialist GP clinic that provides women's health services, including sexual and reproductive health care, prenatal, postnatal and infant care for women and their babies, mental health care, women's physio, and menopause care and support. Founded by Dr Natasha Vavrek in 2021, the clinic has won many awards, and Dr Vavrek is highly respected in Tasmania as a leader in women's health. They have recently opened a new clinic in Hobart, bringing a statewide presence to women's health and a holistic approach to women's health in Tasmania. They're doing something that has, historically, been quite difficult to achieve in Tasmania, but they don't have any trouble attracting GPs. They don't have any difficulty in retaining those GPs. It's a women-centred women-led practice leading the way in an innovative way in Tasmania.

These health announcements have the opportunity to build on that innovation that's occurring within local communities like mine. I welcome it, but I would really like to put on record and encourage the government—or whomever may be in government going forward—to keep an eye on these things and to consider the implementation and how they are working, and be open to that, as they roll out, particularly on the ground in communities like mine. In rural and regional communities there can be some additional complexities when it comes to the implementation of some of these programs, so I urge that the government continue to focus on that and to pay attention to that implementation as it rolls through. The Bubble have said publicly that they welcome these announcements. They'd like to see things go further, but they do say that some of these things will be gamechanging for women who have had to put up with symptoms—particularly in the menopause space, because they can't afford access to some of those medications. Again, let's keep an eye on it and make sure that access to those medications is available and that we don't have supply shortages as it rolls out.

While we're acknowledging the great work that has been done, I acknowledge the work that the government has done in relation to urgent care clinics. The urgent care clinic in Launceston has welcomed many people. Again, while I'm paying credit where it is due, I do want to make the case that we cannot take our eye off the ball and suggest that urgent care is a substitute for good primary care practice. What we are seeing in Tasmania is people accessing care through an urgent care clinic because there's nothing else available. So I think we really need to continue to keep our focus on primary health care and make sure that people have access to that service as well.

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