Damian Hale (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Health and Ageing. What is the government doing to improve health services in the Northern Territory, following the previous government’s intervention?

Nicola Roxon (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Health and Ageing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Solomon for his question. He, probably alone in this House with the Minister for Defence Science and Personnel, has the closest interest in the way that we are going to continue with the previous government’s intervention. I do think it is important to be able to put on the record in this House that we intend to make sure that the previous government’s intervention does turn into providing lasting change in the health sector—in particular for our Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory. I know that the chamber is well aware of the child health checks which have been and are continuing to be undertaken. As of yesterday, 6,199 checks have now been undertaken. We are committed to honouring the $100 million that was committed by the previous government over the next two years to improve primary health care and health workforce provision in the Territory. But we are also committed to so much more than the previous government ever put in. We promised in the election to support more Indigenous health services and we are going to deliver on those. We are already taking steps to deliver on those, from the $260 million for early childhood education and maternal nursing services through to an extra $50 million in alcohol treatment services that were announced just last week, of which $8 million is directed towards the Northern Territory. All these commitments and many more are about us getting down to work, rolling up our sleeves and delivering the services where they are needed.

I would also like to provide to the House some information about the follow-up services that are being provided as a result of the checks that have been done for children in the Northern Territory and to reaffirm our determination to make a real difference to the health outcomes for Indigenous children. The House might be interested to know that from an analysis of the children’s health checks—the first 4½ thousand—35 per cent of children have been referred to further primary health care services, a big chunk of those already being provided by existing services; 27 per cent of children have been referred for dental care; 10 per cent of children have been referred to a paediatrician; and 7.8 per cent of children have been referred to specialist ear, nose and throat services.

I want to take the time to go through how those services are being provided because it is interesting that in the two areas where there is the most demand for follow-up care—primary care and dental care—the Rudd Labor government has already made significant additional commitments and these are also the areas where the previous government totally dropped the ball. The Leader of the Opposition and the member for Warringah have already admitted on the record that workforce shortages were the fault of early decisions of the Howard government. And we know—in fact members have been reminding us today—that the Howard-Costello government cut funding to dental care. I want to deal with this issue.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Nicola Roxon (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Health and Ageing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Before members opposite object, members might want to hear a sobering bit of information about what the previous government did in dental care. Eleven years ago when the previous government was elected, the government made a decision that it would not contribute to dental care. It made a decision that it would not—

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Families, Community Services, Indigenous Affairs and the Voluntary Sector) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Abbott interjecting

Nicola Roxon (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Health and Ageing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Warringah, who I know is good at maths, will be able to work out that most of the children were born after the Howard government was elected and now some 30 per cent of those Indigenous kids need dental care. The member for Warringah, even if the rest of you do not know, will know that not a single cent was spent for any child in the Northern Territory on dental care in the last 11 years. Even the government’s chronic care program did not service in four years a single person under the age of 25 in the whole Northern Territory. Don’t come into this House and tell us that they object to us providing money for dental care when not one cent was provided to provide dental care by the Commonwealth for Indigenous children.

Brendan Nelson (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, a point of order on relevance and things that are self-evident truths: that is manifestly not true and I ask the minister to come back to the facts.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Leader of the Opposition will resume his seat. The leader can raise relevance. If there are things about the matter contained in the response that he has a problem with, there are other forms of the House available.

Nicola Roxon (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Health and Ageing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am very proud to be part of a government that is going to be providing money to the states and territories to provide more dental services. I might also highlight that, of the hundreds of children that have been referred who need ear, nose and throat surgery, 500 children have already been organised to have the surgery undertaken in April 2008 as part of the blitz, and I would note when talking about this sort of surgery that the Rudd Labor government’s $150 million for elective surgery, $5.3 million of which went to the Northern Territory and will pay for an additional 500 elective surgery procedures, will be particularly focused on ear, nose and throat surgery. We are of course proud of the fact that when we see these problems—and everyone in this House, whatever their political view, understands that health services are desperately needed in the Northern Territory—we are putting money in to help fix them. We know that much more needs to be done to reduce child mortality in Indigenous communities and to improve the life expectancy gap. We are starting to do that and we hope we are going to have the House’s support to continue doing that.

Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.