Ms Catherine King (Ballarat, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Health and Ageing. Will the minister update the House on the government’s initiatives to support our nursing and midwifery workforce?

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

I thank the member for Ballarat for this question. She is not just a new mum in the parliament but someone who has taken a great interest in our commitments to develop a new plan for maternity services. There are a number of midwives and nurses in her electorate who were very actively involved in our maternity services review. I know she takes a particular interest in it.

I have to say that today is a very good day for nurses and midwives across the country. It is a very good day for mothers and a very good day for families because today we introduced into the parliament a piece of legislation of which the government is very proud, providing for the first time MBS, Medicare Benefits Schedule, and PBS, Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, access for midwives and nurse practitioners. This means that patients will be able to access their services in a new way. It will be much more convenient for patients to have tests and referrals provided by qualified midwives and nurse practitioners.

These reforms will change fundamentally and improve our maternity services across the country. This is a key plank of the $120 million Maternity Services Plan that was part of this year’s budget. It is all about improving choices for women and recognising that we need to have access to high-quality, safe maternity care as close to people’s homes as possible. I was very pleased to visit the Canberra birthing centre this morning to meet with some of our dedicated midwives, a new mother and an expectant mother to discuss how these reforms would help them now or in the future, if they choose to have more children. The midwives in particular were very excited about the recognition, at last, of their skills.

The proposals that are included in our legislation, which I hope will be supported in the House and in the Senate, mean that our midwives and our nurses will be encouraged to use their skills to their fullest capacity. They will be encouraged to work collaboratively with GPs and with obstetricians. But we are fundamentally enhancing the role that they can play in providing services to patients across the country. We want to expand the level of health services and access to health services and, of course, have them as close as we can in our community to where people live.

As I said, we are very proud of the changes that are being introduced. It is a key part of our health reform agenda. It is a key part of our primary care agenda, particularly for nurse practitioners. I know, for example, that the member for Brand has been very interested in working with nurse practitioners in Western Australia to ensure that some of the intense workforce shortages that we are still coping with as a legacy from the decisions of the previous government can be tackled by using our workforce more strategically. That means recognising midwives, recognising nurses, encouraging them to work collaboratively with doctors and making sure that better options are available for women and better choices are there. As I say, it is a very good day for nurses, a very good day for midwives, a good day for mums and a good day for Australian families.