Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party, Minister for Regional Services) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Griff, for your question. Remote health workforce safety has been a longstanding concern for government and employers of remote health workers. Remote area nurses manage a number of risks while providing vital health services in communities which often have none. Weather, travelling large distances and other complexities all come into play. Across the nation, there are more than 1,500 health professionals operating in rural and remote areas. It is a very different model of healthcare delivery and ensures essential health care is available to assist the most vulnerable parts of the community in the most isolated areas.

We were all incredibly saddened to hear of the murder of Gayle Woodford, who was, tragically, murdered when responding to a late-night request for help in 2016 in the APY Lands, for simply doing her job and caring for those in need. In response to this tragedy, our government provided nearly half a million dollars for immediate assistance to a suite of resources to help health professionals in remote locations and their employers. In the main in this area, it is state governments who are the employers of allied health professionals, in particular nurses in regional areas, and mitigate the risk to their personal safety and security as they go about their daily duties, which are fundamental to all of us. As I reported to the Senate in August last year, we also gave CRANAplus, the organisation that was tasked with rolling out those services, an additional $13.7 million to grow the type of work it was doing out in regional areas. I also requested at that time from COAG health ministers an update on Gayle's Law and inquired what work state governments were doing to ensure that their remote and rural health workforce was safe.