Fiona Nash (NSW, National Party, Assistant Minister for Health) Share this | Hansard source

The government is fast tracking the full implementation of the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program, building on the successes it has achieved to date, thereby providing access for all Australians aged 50 to 74 years to biennial screening by 2020 and continuing to enhance our broader preventive health efforts by supporting the establishment of 10 new headspace sites, which will provide community based services for young people aged 12 to 25 years who have or are at risk of mental illness. We need to make sure that our investment in the health system, wherever it can, encourages Australians to develop and maintain healthy behaviours. This is one reason we are developing a national diabetes strategy, supported by an advisory group which will draw on the expertise of clinicians and researchers who focus on this disease.

Diabetes and its complications places an incredible demand on the health system, particularly type 2 diabetes, a disease which can be prevented and managed through physical exercise and diet. The experts are reviewing current practices and will develop advice to ensure that all parts of the health system are able to respond effectively to those who are diagnosed, as well as increasing our efforts to prevent the disease. The government will also continue working with the primary care and other sectors to promote health behaviours and to support better health outcomes. We are establishing primary health networks, which will seek to embed preventive behaviours in the community. It is important that our general practitioners are seen as a critical part of the preventive health picture.

If we can achieve better outcomes in the health of high-risk and high-need complex chronic disease patients, we will help prevent increased demand on specialists and hospitals. As well as the role for the Australian government, the states and territories have responsibility for providing services and they need to ensure these services include preventive approaches.

Cross-government action on preventive health will not be jeopardised as a result of abolishing ANPHA. There are established and transparent mechanisms available to progress national prevention issues. Similarly, closing ANPHA does not preclude the Commonwealth from working with stakeholders, seeking expert advice or forming productive working relationships with other bodies. Such collaboration is not dependent on having a separately established and funded Commonwealth agency.

Through our continuing programs, this government recognises an ongoing role for the Commonwealth in promoting healthier lifestyles in the context of individuals taking responsibility for their lives. These efforts need to be integrated across the health system with a focus on those who are most at risk and those who can gain most from changing behaviours that lead to poor health outcomes. That said, Australian life expectancy continues to rise, supported by our health system and by quality research and evidence-based interventions. We do not need a separate agency looking at only part of the prevention picture. There is no evidence to show that this is the most effective way to promote responsibility for healthy lifestyles among Australians and address population health priorities.

This government will continue to focus on activities where there is evidence that the government can act to make a difference. This government will continue to work to ensure that preventive health underlines all our health efforts, that preventive health becomes embedded in the health system and in the attitudes and behaviours of all Australians.