Ken O'Dowd (Flynn, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Health is right at the top of my hit list for Flynn. It's a hot topic at the moment, along with aged care, electricity prices and the lack of roads. I want to talk about health tonight. Earlier this month, I welcomed the Minister for Rural Health, Senator Bridget McKenzie, to Flynn. It was essential that I had Senator McKenzie to Gladstone immediately following the release of the budget, which spelt good news for Queensland. The focus was on funding for public hospitals, rural doctors and keeping trained medics in the bush. I don't call Gladstone or Emerald the bush, but I think some doctors think it's the bush and refuse to come out of their cubby holes in the capital cities and service people in my electorate.

The fact is that in cities there are four doctors for every thousand people, while in the country there are only two doctors for every thousand people. We are investing more in public hospitals than ever before. The feds have allocated money to the hospitals and the states' job is to distribute it. An additional $275.5 million in 2017-18 to Queensland hospitals is a fact. The 2018 agreement will see an extra $29.5 billion in funding for public hospitals over a five-year period from 2020-21 to 2024-25, an increase of $7.49 billion versus the previous five years. That's equivalent to a 34 per cent increase in funding for Queensland hospitals. I ask the Palaszczuk state government: Where is Gladstone's share of the additional $275 million delivered to Queensland hospitals in 2017-18? Why hasn't Gladstone got anything?' Glenn Butcher, the state member for Gladstone and the Assistant Treasurer, should be right across this issue, and yet silence is all we hear.

Bridget McKenzie visited Boyne Island and Calliope and met with local GPs. Dr Bird has reopened the Calliope Medical Centre, but unfortunately there are no doctors. There are allied health workers and experts, but there are still no doctors. That's why the health centre closed a few months ago. Minister McKenzie met with health officials and the chemist. We have a contingent of local people who cannot get serviced by a doctor. The waiting queues are long. It's a supply and demand situation, and the demand for doctors outstrips the supply; therefore, there is no bulk-billing at all in Gladstone, Boyne Island or Calliope. That's the dilemma we are facing at the moment.

Under our Stronger Rural Health Strategy announced in the budget, there's another $550 million. This is a transformational package to bring more doctors to the bush, but more to train doctors in regional areas with the hope of retaining their services in the future. If you train a doctor in a regional area, you've got a 75 per cent chance of keeping them in a regional area. That's the challenge for all of us. There are going to be an extra 3,000 additional doctors and 3,000 additional nurses. There are a core number of doctors in Central Queensland who have kept the whole health organisation together. They do their very best, but their time is limited because they have patients and waiting queues. They do their very best and I thank them very much.

House adjourned at 20:00