Dear Mrs Irwin

Thank you for your letter of 27 May 2008 enclosing a petition in relation to the re-establishment of the Commonwealth Dental Health Scheme and Commonwealth funding for dental care.

The Commonwealth and the State and Territory Governments are working together to improve the standard of oral health in Australia.

I am pleased to be able to advise you that the Commonwealth Government will be re-introducing this scheme as the Commonwealth Dental Health Program from July 2008. Through this Program, the Commonwealth will provide funding to assist the States and Territories to deliver public dental services in their jurisdictions and help to clear the backlog of people waiting for public dental treatment. The Commonwealth Government will fund up to one million additional public dental consultations by providing $290 million over three years to the States and Territories. The increased funding for public dental care under the Commonwealth Dental Health Program will assist eligible patients to access timely dental care.

This is part of a significant Commonwealth Government commitment to dental health with a total of$780 million over five years for dental services. This includes $290 million for the Commonwealth Dental Health Program and $490 million for the Medicare Teen Dental Plan.

On 2 March 2008, this Government announced that it will also deliver its election commitment to introduce a new Medicare Teen Dental Plan. This program will provide up to $150 per person towards an annual preventative check. Around 1.1 million teenagers 12-17 years of age in families receiving Family Tax Benefit Part A, and teenagers in the same age group receiving Youth Allowance or Abstudy, will be eligible under the Medicare Teen Dental Plan. The program is expected to commence on 1 July 2008, subject to the passage of legislation.

I trust that the above information is of use.

Dear Mrs Irwin

Thank you for your letter of 28 May 2008 enclosing a petition in relation to re-introducing the Commonwealth Dental Scheme, reducing waiting times and training more public dentists.

The Commonwealth and the State and Territory Governments are working together to improve the standard of oral health in Australia.

I am pleased to be able to advise you that the Commonwealth Government will be re-introducing the Commonwealth Dental Scheme as the Commonwealth Dental Health Program from July 2008. Through this Program, the Commonwealth will provide funding to assist the States and Territories to deliver public dental services in their jurisdictions and help to clear the backlog of people waiting for public dental treatment. The Commonwealth Government will fund up to one million additional public dental consultations by providing $290 million over three years to the States and Territories. The increased funding for public dental care under the Commonwealth Dental Health Program will assist eligible patients to access timely dental care.

This is part of a significant Commonwealth Government commitment to dental health with a total of $780 million over five years for dental services. This includes $290 million for the Commonwealth Dental Health Program and $490 million for the Medicare Teen Dental Plan.

On 2 March 2008, this Government announced that it would also deliver its election commitment to introduce a new Medicare Teen Dental Plan. This program will provide up to $150 per person towards an annual preventative check. Around 1.1 million teenagers 12-17 years of age in families receiving Family Tax Benefit Part A, and teenagers in the same age group receiving Youth Allowance or Abstudy, will be eligible under the Medicare Teen Dental Plan. The program is expected to commence on 1 July 2008, subject to the passage of legislation.

A total of $65.4 million over five years has been committed to establish the new regional dental school of Charles Sturt University. Funding will be provided to construct pre-clinical and clinical facilities in Orange and Wagga Wagga and three dental education clinics in Albury, Bathurst and Dubbo. A total of 240 new training places for dental and oral health students are being made available over five years by the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations.

The measure will expand dental training and public dental service provision in regional Australia. The new dental training program will include the delivery of services to public patients at several regional locations.

Through the 2008-09 Budget, the Government will provide total funding of$49.5 million over five years to James Cook University for the establishment of a new dental school in Cairns. The University will receive $33 million in funding for capital infrastructure, funding for 60 new Commonwealth supported places in dentistry each year and funding for a clinical outreach program. The new dental school will help address skills shortages in dentistry, particularly in northern Australia.

Funding of $12.3 million in total over four years has been allocated to the Dental Training Expanding Rural Placements Program. Under this Program, universities will provide extended rural clinical placements in established rural training settings for each of the six current dental faculties based at metropolitan universities. The Program commenced operation in 2007-08 and is designed to help address the shortage and maldistribution of dentists, especially in rural and remote areas. The participating universities are Sydney, Adelaide, Melbourne, Western Australia, Queensland and Griffith University.

I trust that the above information is of use.

Dear Mrs Irwin

Thank you for your letter of 27 May 2008 enclosing a petition in relation to re-introducing the Commonwealth Dental Scheme.

The Commonwealth and the State and Territory Governments are working together to improve the standard of oral health in Australia.

I am pleased to be able to advise you that the Commonwealth Government will be re-introducing the Commonwealth Dental Scheme as the Commonwealth Dental Health Program from July 2008. Through this Program, the Commonwealth will provide funding to assist the States and Territories to deliver public dental services in their jurisdictions and help to clear the backlog of people waiting for public dental treatment. The Commonwealth Government will fund up to one million additional public dental consultations by providing $290 million over three years to the States and Territories. The increased funding for public dental care under the Commonwealth Dental Health Program will assist eligible patients to access timely dental care.

This is part of a significant Commonwealth Government commitment to dental health with a total of $780 million over five years for dental services. This includes $290 million for the Commonwealth Dental Health Program and $490 million for the Medicare Teen Dental Plan.

On 2 March 2008, this Government announced that it will also deliver its election commitment to introduce a new Medicare Teen Dental Plan. This program will provide up to $150 per person towards an annual preventative check. Around 1.1 million teenagers 12-17 years of age in families receiving Family Tax Benefit Part A, and teenagers in the same age group receiving Youth Allowance or Abstudy, will be eligible under the Medicare Teen Dental Plan. The program is expected to commence on 1 July 2008, subject to the passage of legislation.

I trust that the above information is of use.

from the Minister for Health and Ageing, Ms Roxon, to a petition presented on 26 May by The Speaker (from 3053 citizens)