Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care. One in nine women suffer endometriosis, a condition that causes severe pelvic pain and sometimes infertility. The federal government has funded one endometriosis—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I ask the member to resume her seat for a point of clarification.

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

A point of clarification before the question goes on: only ministers can be asked questions; not assistant ministers. I didn't want to end up in a situation where the issues couldn't be raised, but certainly it wouldn't be able to be directed the way that question was.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

For clarity, I'll ask the member to restart her question. Reset the clock. She can direct the question to the relevant minister.

Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Health and Aged Care. One in nine women suffer endometriosis, a condition that causes severe pelvic pain and sometimes infertility. The federal government has funded one endometriosis clinic for South Australia, but it's located in Kadina, 150 kilometres from Adelaide and where less than one per cent of the South Australian population live, leaving women in my electorate in pain without services or support. When will the government fund a clinic accessible to the other 99 per cent of South Australia's women?

Mark Butler (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Mayo for her question. I know the assistant minister, if standing orders permitted, would be delighted to answer this question. She has put in an extraordinary amount of work, along with members—frankly, particularly female members of parliament—right across the aisle, trying to work together on finding new ways to support women who deal with this incredibly difficult, challenging and often lifelong condition.

As the member knows, there was a competitive process undertaken to implement our commitment to deliver a number of endometriosis clinics across the country. She is right that the one clinic that succeeded in that competitive process in South Australia is located in Kadina. The assistant minister and I have both received representations, including particularly from the member for Boothby but others as well, about the restrictions that that places on people in Adelaide, but also in other parts of country South Australia, from getting access to this new, innovative model of care. The assistant minister is working very hard on ways in which we can have an additional process for additional clinics. She will have more to say about that in due course. But I'm sure the assistant minister would be very happy to have a direct discussion offline with the member for Mayo about the impact that these programs are having particularly on her constituency.