Kirsten Livermore (Capricornia, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I put on the record tonight my support for the government’s efforts to improve Australia’s health system. We want the health system to work better. The Australian people are looking to us to restore faith in the health system and to make sure it is prepared for the future. That is why the current Australian Health Care Agreement negotiated with the states includes a 50 per cent increase in hospital funding in the life of the five-year agreement. Already we have committed an unprecedented $1.1 billion towards training more doctors, nurses and health professionals. We will now build on that with an additional $632 million. We are talking about doubling the number of places available to medical graduates to train to become GPs. Training places for specialist doctors will grow from 360 to 900 by 2014. Priority will be given to providing training places in rural and regional areas where access to specialists has been particularly difficult for many years. Finally, we are turning the tide on doctor shortages.

Our commitment to better health care goes further. There has been direct investment by the federal government in the capital needs of local hospitals, including $76 million in the 2009 budget for the Rockhampton Base Hospital alone. Another local example is the full-time MRI licence the Rockhampton Base Hospital was promised in the 2007 election and granted by the Labor government in 2008. These measures now fit within the broader structural reform announced by the Prime Minister. The Commonwealth will assume the majority funding responsibility for public hospitals through the National Health and Hospitals Network that will be funded nationally and run locally.

Our record shows that we are serious about building a health system people can rely on now and into the future. One of the goals of health and hospital reform is obviously to deliver better care, but that is not possible unless you put the health system onto a strong and sustainable financial footing. In contrast, the opposition are intent on blocking every savings measure we put forward. They opposed the means testing of the private health insurance rebate at a cost to the budget of $2 billion, they backed the ophthalmologists when the government tried to adjust rebates for simple procedures and they continue to defend the flawed chronic disease dental scheme, a program that we know has been rorted. This is financially irresponsible on the part of the opposition and puts our health system at risk of not being able to cope with the rising demand for services. We need that money to be put to work for a better health system.

The people of Central Queensland know what they would like to see precious health dollars spent on. One of the major gaps in our health service in Central Queensland is in the area of cancer treatment. That is why I welcomed the call in November last year for applications for the government’s regional cancer centre program. The government has committed $560 million to build centres to improve access and support for cancer patients in rural and regional Australia and to help close the gap in cancer outcomes between the city and the country. It would be no surprise to people in the Rockhampton region that outcomes following a diagnosis of cancer are worse for people living outside our major cities. Survival rates are lower, and some cancers patients from rural areas are three times more likely to die than their urban counterparts.

Too many Central Queensland cancer sufferers have to leave home to receive treatment in Brisbane. This is costly and places an unacceptable burden on them and their families at what is already a very stressful and difficult time. I mentioned the $76 million that the Rockhampton Base Hospital received in last year’s budget to undertake a major extension of the buildings there. That expansion work going on at Rockhampton Base Hospital is creating the space that could house the linear accelerators used in radiation therapy. From 2011 our local Central Queensland University will offer relevant allied health courses that will produce graduates qualified to staff such a facility.

This government has already recognised the importance of Rockhampton as a health service hub through the funding of the MRI machine and the expansion of the base hospital, so services are improving in our region. But people with cancer in Central Queensland should be able to get the care they need close to home. This is a great opportunity to address a serious need in our region. I urge the health minister to look carefully at the case put forward by the Rockhampton Base Hospital in its application for this important health service.