Trish Crossin (NT, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to provide a contribution on the matter of urgency that has been moved by the Greens today on dialysis services. I just say at the outset that it is a very important issue. It is a very significant issue and it affects not only Indigenous people in the Northern Territory but mainly Indigenous people in South Australia and Western Australia. However, if you look at the history of provision of access to renal dialysis services in the Northern Territory, there are some elements of Senator Siewert’s contribution that do not give us the complete facts as to why it was necessary for the people of Kintore, through the Papunya Tula artists, to go to Sydney to raise that money for their renal dialysis unit. I think it would be interesting to record in Hansard why there was a need for those people to do that and the fact that the driving force behind it was Peter Toyne, who started that project when he was a member of the opposition in the Labor Party in the Northern Territory. He went on to become the first Minister for Health in the Northern Territory government and continued to work on that project with a lot of support from the Northern Territory government at the time.

There is no doubt that tackling Indigenous health outcomes is a major challenge and has been a major challenge for all political parties right through time. It still continues to be a challenge and this Commonwealth government, the Rudd government, is absolutely committed to closing the gap on Aboriginal health outcomes—so much so that when this Prime Minister had a chance to reshuffle his cabinet in the last year he created the position of Minister for Indigenous Health, Rural and Regional Health and Regional Service Delivery. That position is held by Warren Snowdon who, as a minister in this government, has specific responsibility for Indigenous health. I think that, if that does not show you how much this government has elevated the importance of health improvements and health outcomes, you would be silly to think that it is not high on the agenda of what we are doing as a government.

We have committed a historic $1.6 billion investment in Indigenous health, agreed to through COAG, where all the governments except Tasmania agreed to contribute to the National Partnership Agreement on Closing the Gap on Indigenous Health Outcomes. That is a significant and major investment that will work towards closing the gap in life expectancy within a generation. That is the target and that is what we aim to do. The gap in life expectancy between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians is estimated by the Australian Bureau of Statistics to be between nine and 11.5 years.

I have heard people such as Minister Snowdon say that this is a challenge and that it is not easy. There is an admission by us, as a government, that this is going to be an ongoing major focus of work and a major challenge. Last week, with AMSANT’s AGM in the Northern Territory, a number of initiatives were launched by Mr Snowdon and Minister Kon Vatskalis, the Northern Territory Minister for Health, to try and work with Aboriginal community controlled organisations and Aboriginal organisations dedicated to closing this gap and working together. It is an ongoing challenge and it is not easy, but it is something that we have elevated to a cause of national significance.

Chronic disease is the single largest contributor to the current life expectancy gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. That is why many of the commitments the government have outlined are an important part of our $105.5 million Indigenous chronic disease package, which was announced on 29 November last year. This four-year package will help our health system and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to better prevent, detect and manage chronic disease in their communities. It will tackle chronic disease risk factors, improve access to follow-up care and increase the capacity of the primary care workforce with the aim of delivering effective health care to Indigenous Australians.

If I could turn to the matter of the detail before the Senate today—that is, the provision of and access to dialysis services, particularly in Central Australia. Dialysis services are actually administered by state and territory governments. It is not a matter of buck-passing; it is a matter of fact. The Commonwealth does not organise or deliver dialysis services. At the moment, demand for dialysis services in Central Australia exceeds the available resources. It is treating patients not only from the Northern Territory but also from communities just over the border in South Australia and Western Australia. So it is not true to say that people who come to the Alice Springs services at this point in time are just from the Northern Territory. They are not; they are from that catchment area.

The Northern Territory government have implemented protocols to refer new patients, not existing patients, presenting for treatment in Alice Springs who are not residents of the Northern Territory to their state of residence for treatment. That is simply because the facilities and the services are stretched beyond capacity. It has to be made clear that these protocols apply only to new patients who live outside the Northern Territory. The Northern Territory health system is continuing to support up to 30 current South Australian and Western Australian patients in Alice Springs. The Department of Health and Families has advised that this decision was necessary due to delays in establishing the Northern Territory government’s new 12-port renal facility in Alice Springs, which will provide access to increased patient numbers but will not come on line until the middle of next year.

To assist with the current situation in Alice Springs, Minister Snowdon announced, as recently as early November, that the Commonwealth will make a two-port relocatable dialysis facility temporarily available to the Northern Territory government. So the Commonwealth has acted immediately and has provided a two-port relocatable, temporary facility as quickly as it possibly could. This flexible arrangement is intended to ease the pressure on existing facilities until the new 12-port renal facility is operational in Alice Springs.

The Northern Territory government have also begun to address the issue of patients being turned away. They recently led the way to establish a tri-state agreement with South Australia and Western Australia to develop a plan for the management of renal patients from cross-border regions. In fact, my understanding is that Minister Kon Vatskalis is convening a summit with Western Australian and South Australian health department officials in early December. So the discussions will be continued the week after next.

It is not true to say that the Northern Territory government have sat on their hands and done nothing about this, nor is it true to say that the Commonwealth government have done nothing about this. As soon as this problem became a matter of significance, as soon as the Northern Territory health department was made aware that demand from Western Australian and South Australian patients in Alice Springs was going to result in a substantial increase in and drain on Northern Territory health department dollars, action was taken immediately. A two-port renal temporary facility was made available by the Commonwealth and Kon Vatskalis has moved to get discussions with South Australia and Western Australia health officials happening within a three-week time frame. I think that that is an acceptance that there is a problem here. People are trying to act as quickly as possible to get on top of the problem. The summit will focus on concrete proposals to boost dialysis capacity in Central Australia. The Commonwealth are encouraging the three state and territory governments to come to a speedy resolution of these issues.

We understand that access to renal dialysis services in Central Australia is a major issue. It always has been, not just for this government but also for the previous government. That is why at the election we committed $3.5 million to provide extra renal dialysis services in the Northern Territory. With this funding, we will ensure mobile dialysis services are piloted in Central Australia in the first quarter of next year to help improve access for people in remote communities without the need to travel to major centres for treatment. Let us remember that these mobile services mean that, if people are going to treat themselves at home, they have to learn how to use these machines and how to sterilise these machines, and that takes a long period of time. I know that for the people of Arnhem Land it can take them up to eight and 10 months to learn how to self-dialysise. It is not a solution that can happen overnight. We will have renal-ready rooms co-located at community services in places like Maningrida, Lake Nash and Barunga. (Time expired)