Jane Prentice (Ryan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to bring to the attention of the House the Royal Queensland Bush Children's Health Scheme, otherwise known as BUSHkids. This is a Queensland based not-for-profit organisation supporting the development of children in rural communities. As I speak today, general manager Carlton Meyn has gathered his teams from across Queensland to hold their annual conference at Riverglenn, Indooroopilly, just down the road from my electorate office. So I consider this an appropriate time to acknowledge the work of the organisation, which is based in my electorate of Ryan. 2015 will mark 80 years since the establishment of this organisation, which was founded to provide health service for rural children. BUSHkids is uniquely placed to continue its crucial role in early identification, prevention and intervention in respect of health, education and social issues that affect children and their families in rural communities. They have fully supported centres based in key rural centres in Emerald, Dalby, Bundaberg, Mount Isa and Warwick, with a sixth centre at Inglewood serviced by a family health support worker. These centres provide access to allied health professionals in collaboration with other government and non-government organisations in these rural communities.

A defining aspect of BUSHkids is its endeavour and dedication to its stated principles of practice. This is particularly the case in regard of building the capacity of local communities to identify and respond to the needs of at-risk children. In providing these services as a means of establishing and providing preventative health programs for those who may otherwise not be able to access them, BUSHkids seeks, through prevention or early intervention, to provide a better future for those children and families deemed at risk. The multidisciplinary nature of its work facilitates this greatly.

BUSHkids' successful record is underlined by figures that show, in the first half of the 2013-14 financial year, that the Warwick centre alone provided 2,319 sessions for children and families in its area. With a long-established record of reliable service, BUSHkids is an organisation that is uniquely positioned to drive the new Department of Social Services programs into the future. In addition to the provision of services it currently undertakes, BUSHkids aims to expand its successful delivery model into areas that relate to Indigenous health and education and into prevention and early intervention on key issues relating to emergency issues such as foetal alcohol syndrome and foetal alcohol spectrum disorder.

BUSHkids is an organisation that has almost 80 years of experience at the forefront of providing key services to at-risk rural communities. I am very pleased to bring the life-altering work of this organisation to the attention of the House at a key juncture for the future health of rural Australian children and the communities in which they live. I wish them well for the remainder of their conference.