Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—I move:

That the Senate take note of the document.

It is pleasing to hear that the South Australian government is responding to the Senate’s resolution on the issue around dialysis in Central Australia, and I thank Minister Hill for taking such an interest. However, it is interesting to note that the letter is already somewhat out of date, because the minister talks in his letter about working on a solution for the APY Lands and exploring the feasibility of providing dialysis services on APY Lands, meaning patients would no longer have to travel.

I note the media release of last Friday from the Minister for Indigenous Health, Rural and Regional Health and Regional Service Delivery, Mr Snowdon, in which he announced that there is going to be a joint study to look into delivery of kidney disease treatment in Central Australia. Again, it is very pleasing to note that the federal government, the state governments of South Australia and Western Australia and the Territory government are joining together to look at the delivery of these services. However, unfortunately the announcement did not include terms of reference for the inquiry. It did say that the inquiry will be completed by the end of the year, which in one way is pleasing in that at least it has a set end date. But, in the meantime, we are still seeing patients urgently needing access to dialysis.

I also note that there was an agreement, which turned out to yet again be an announcement of a tri-state agreement over the provision of dialysis support in Central Australia. It says that some resources will be made available for people interstate—in other words, patients in South Australia and Western Australia accessing dialysis support in Alice Springs. The problem with that is that, while the South Australian government said that they would continue to support existing patients in Alice Springs, by the sounds of it—and it is very difficult to get access to the real information—it appears that from then on they will only fund access for eight patients to receive dialysis in Central Australia. That is in fact a halving of the number of people from South Australia, the APY Lands, who will be able to access Central Australia. That of course means that people on the APY Lands are going to have to travel to Adelaide, Whyalla or Port Augusta. That is, in some instances, over 1,000 kilometres, so that means that people have to relocate permanently from their communities.

I remind the Senate that the debate and the discussions that we have been having have been about enabling people who live in Central Australia to access dialysis support close to their community so that they do not have to travel and remove themselves from the community. Having to do so means that their family is disrupted, they are isolated from their community and they are isolated from their families or their families have to move. They are often receiving treatment and support that is not necessarily entirely culturally appropriate.

Very often these patients do not speak English as a first language. They are often relocated to areas where they do not have people that speak their language or are able to support them in the manner in which they would be if they were supported in their community. I am pleased to see there is some progress. I urge the South Australian government in the interim to ensure that patients on the APY Lands have access to dialysis support in Alice Springs so that they do not have to relocate in some cases over a thousand kilometres from their home. It is essential that the people are able to remain either in their community or close to their community. I remind members that these lands are only 400 kilometres rather than a thousand kilometres from Alice Springs. There are often family members on dialysis already in Alice Springs. In other words, they are not isolated from their communities if they are able to access dialysis support in Alice Springs.

My next urging is that as soon as the government releases the terms of reference for this study that engages very strongly with all communities and all service providers the first consultation be undertaken. In fact, around the issues of the terms of reference, as soon as this study is completed a commitment should be given by both the Commonwealth government and the state and territory governments to come to a long-term planning solution to provide dialysis support in Central Australia. That support needs to be innovative, provided in community, involve training, provide support for nursing staff and accommodation for that nursing staff and ensure that people do not have to travel sometimes over 2,000 kilometres, as in my home state of Western Australia if they have to relocate to Kalgoorlie or Perth, but enables them to remain in community and receive that support. Of course, in the longer term we want to ensure that people do not get to the point of end stage kidney disease. We want appropriate health programs in place that ensure that they do not ever get to the stage of needing dialysis.

Question agreed to.