Sue Boyce (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

As a relatively new senator, this was the first inquiry that I have had the opportunity to participate in from beginning to end. I would like to thank the secretariat and the members of the committee, particularly Senator Judith Adams, for the very worthwhile experience that this inquiry produced. Probably the first thing to say about the PAT programs as they are used in each state is that they are very little programs trying to do a massive job. They are trying to provide equity of access to people from rural and remote areas with a very small subsidy. One of the things that particularly struck me with regard to the submissions that we received from the state governments was the very cautious nature of those submissions in terms of trying to control the money. We heard evidence that often towards the end of the budget year people would be refused subsidies when earlier in the year the very same set of circumstances would have resulted in a subsidy being received. There was not only a lack of consistency between states but a lack of consistency within states in terms of the subsidies given to people.

To me, the very real value of this inquiry was the fact that it put a human face on the decisions—for example, a mother not being given a subsidy to travel to donate an organ for her son’s welfare—a son in his thirties and with children and obviously someone who this community needs to be as healthy as he can be. One of the images that will haunt me, Senator Moore, was the image of a very sick Indigenous man from remote Australia arriving at Adelaide airport for treatment and not being met by anybody and not understanding how one might get from the airport to the hospital. Obviously, there is a lot of work to be done to improve this. I support the comments of my fellow senators and join them in recommending that COAG is the place to do the work that is needed to give real access to health facilities to remote and rural Australians.