Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I listened carefully to the contribution of Senator Waters. As a party that has made quotas for the representation of women in Australia just part of doing business, I am very proud to stand here as a member of the Labor Party with so many women in my caucus. We discuss all of these issues at length and are here to represent women right across the country—women with a wide range of views on many matters. Senator Waters indicated in the motion before the Senate that there are issues such as inadequate funding and a lack of workforce planning that have closed or restricted many maternity and reproductive health services around the country. She highlights in particular remote and regional areas. I say to people who might be listening to this contribution, as the Senate draws to the close of its first week of work here, that we have a mountain of work to do as an incoming government. We're approaching nine months now, but we've got nearly 10 years of failed health policy to undo and have to reconstruct a path forward for Australians in terms of giving them equitable access to health.

I did undertake, shortly after the arrival of the Abbott government, 52 hearings around the country for the select health committee. There was a massive reduction in funding for national partnership health agreements, which through a flow-on effect through the community led to the massive erosion that followed in community health care. I can remember in the region where I live on the Central Coast just an indicator of what was happening around the rest of the country. Because the federal government had squibbed it, because Prime Minister Abbott took money out—and that was just the beginning of the money drain that was characteristic of the previous government—the state governments made decisions to keep the hospitals open but they absolutely demolished community health.

As a woman and, happily, as a woman who's able to have children and delights in my motherhood of my now grown children, I was in a position where there was no impact directly on me in terms of access to maternity services. But I know that on the Central Coast one of the programs that was withdrawn and pulled apart was pre- and postnatal care for First Nations young women. That was one of the first casualties when the relationships between state and federal governments broke down by the action of the former Prime Minister of Australia, Mr Abbott, when he was elected. That was just the start of the wrecking ball through health brought by Mr Abbott, then followed by Mr Turnbull and—what can we say of the man who brought up the end of the regime!—Mr Morrison. The consequences are with us now—nine years long.

Nine months in, I want to put on the record an announcement that was made, that was brought to fruition by this government, which is doing what it said it would do for Australian people, and that is our declaration today from Minister Clare, the Minister for Education; Minister Butler, the Minister for Health and Aged Care; and my good friend Emma McBride, the Assistant Minister for Rural and Regional Health, about wiping the debt for rural and remote doctors and nurses practitioners. That is going to have a very significant impact on access for women in regional and rural Australia.

This was the Higher Education Support Amendment (2022 Measures No. 1) Bill 2022. It doesn't sound like it has much to do with the topic we're discussing today, which is improved access to health care, particularly with a focus on women, but this is the reality of good government doing the work of government in the national interest. It responds to concerns raised by Senator Waters about the need for immediate and long-term strategies and funding to address the crisis that we have in the workforce. Essentially, what happened today and what became law in Australia is that a doctor or a nurse practitioner who lives and works in rural and remote Australia will have their HELP debt wiped under legislation, as a result of the action of the Albanese government fulfilling our commitments made to the Australian people prior to the election—that we would begin the task of redressing the terrible, terrible state in which the former government left the health services of this nation. So, for those who are listening, you may know a doctor, you may know a nurse or you may know somebody who's engaged in study or wanting to engage in study. This is an important program because doctors and nurse practitioners who choose to live and work in the places that need them, particularly in rural and regional settings, will have most of their HELP debt reduced or wiped.

The HELP debt reduction for a doctor or nurse practitioner will depend on the length of their course of study and the amount of outstanding HELP debt they have when they commence providing eligible services in an eligible location. There will be a significant investment of Australian taxpayers' dollars in this redress of a massive failure by the previous government. So the fact is that doctors who live and work in rural and remote parts of Australia could save on average $70,000 and a nurse practitioner could save up to $20,000. So, if they work in a remote or a very remote town for a time period half the length of their course, they would have their entire HELP debt wiped.

I know communities. I've been to communities in remote and very remote towns not just in New South Wales, particularly in the seat of Parkes—and I'm talking about places like Lightning Ridge, Bourke, Wilcannia and out in Broken Hill, where there is an incredible challenge in attracting and retaining health professionals—but also in Western Australia, visiting communities around Broome and as far over as Halls Creek in the west and the eastern Kimberley. The access to services is so diabolical, with a workforce that is just flown in and flown out, that many of the First Nations representatives who gave evidence to the committee—and I'm very mindful of the great work done there with former Greens senator Rachel Siewert—described health professionals and 'white Toyotas'. That was their generic term. That's all they knew about them—they'd see white Toyotas arriving and white Toyotas leaving, and no continuity of care.

I know, as a woman, how much of my life plan was built on the hope that I might become a mother. When I fell pregnant I was absolutely delighted to be able to access continuous health care for the course of my pregnancy, and to be confident that in my early maternity my child would be cared for and that I would be able to get access to services. This is no longer the lived reality of people, whether they're in remote and regional towns or even an hour-and-a-half out of major cities. So broken is the health system after nine years of Liberal Party and National Party wrecking that people cannot even get into see the doctor.

Programs like I am reporting to the Senate today, which relieve people of their HELP debt, are going to make a very big difference to the way in which young people might consider how they would build a professional future in medicine to provide not just maternity care but also child care and, around the edges of that, I dare say, a little bit of aged care as well. If a doctor or a nurse practitioner decides to move to a large, medium or small rural town for a period equal to the whole length of their course, they also have their entire HELP debt waived. An eligible place for a period equivalent to half the time required is eligible for half the applicable debt reduction. How many doctors is this expected to attract? I'm pleased to report to the Senate and to Senator Waters—who I'm sure is very interested in the outcomes and not just the description of the problem—that this will attract about 850 doctors and nurse practitioners every single year. That's what's anticipated. This has to be music to the ears of people in regional and rural Australia. They know things are absolutely desperate.

I've spoken to many, many women in hospitals, to staff in hospitals talking about their families, and to people that I've met in the seats of Parkes, Farrer and the Riverina—but particularly up in Parkes—where they need to move into a motel accommodation in Dubbo up to a month before their delivery date to actually be ready to get into the care they need. By the time I had my third child, I was little more comfortable about the whole process, but let me tell you: for every woman who is blessed to have a first pregnancy, the care that you receive is something you will never forget. Being able to access that care is a critical part of the survival of your child and your mental health and wellbeing in what can be a tumultuous part of your life.

People have needed access to health services for a very, very long time. What's shocking is that the government of Australia between 2013 and 2022 took away the rights of Australians to access the health care that they deserve. Every time we pay our taxes, our tax dollars are an investment in our country and the future of our country, and we have a right to expect that basic things will not be eroded by the government we elect, yet that is exactly what happened under the former government.

I'm delighted that this particular piece of legislation went through today and will move on to assent. This is a fantastic outcome. And, as I said before, this is a sign of the government showing up to do its day job. Australians are out working, living and doing all the things they do as great citizens of this country. They expect the government to come in and do things that will make their lives better, not worse. We know that this particular incentive to bring 850 doctors and nurse practitioners into the workforce in regional and rural Australia is a signature, immediate and long-term policy decision enacted by the will of this parliament and led by Mr Albanese, Minister Butler, Minister McBride and Minister Clare. They got together; they figured it out. They figured out what would help Australians—not what would harm Australians. I dare say that, as a result of this initiative, my sisters across the nation, the women of Australia, will significantly benefit.

In speaking about sexual and reproductive health, we're speaking about the rights of all Australians being a key priority for the Australian government, and, for women, access to an abortion is an issue that's captured much of the public space and column inches. I also want to stand, though, as a woman of faith, alongside other women of multiple faiths, who might have a different view about abortion. Access to an abortion for all Australian women in our civil society is a very important thing. But there are people who might not hold that view, people who desperately want assistance to maintain their pregnancy, and that is an important consideration. That must be part of what the government undertakes and what senators undertake as we move forward. We live in a multicultural, multifaith, vibrant, pluralist democracy. There are multiple views about reproductive health to which we should always be sensitive, because that reflects our rich diversity. So, as a woman of faith, as a Catholic woman, I urge that committee to look at access to pregnancy care in the fullest sense. Every single possible permutation needs to be given fair and proper consideration.

I close by thanking Senator Waters for bringing forward this matter for discussion today. I am very glad that as a member of a government I'm able to stand here and—unlike the case so often in the last nine years—not make excuses about failures but put on the record a legislative success that is about building a better workforce to give Australians everywhere, including in regional Australia, a much better chance to access the health care that they deserve.