Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Hansard source

The opposition has sympathy with the intent of the amendment that Senator Steele-John has moved, in this place, and is before us at the moment. Everybody would agree that patient safety must always be at the forefront of our thinking when we deal with issues in relation to the health and welfare of Australians.

We are very mindful of the technical aspects of the implementation of the effects of this particular amendment, many of which have been outlined by the minister. But we also recognise that medical practitioners are under significant pressure due to serious workforce shortages. This is particularly significant for medical practitioners and general practitioners working in rural, regional and remote Australia. We know that's where workforce shortages are hitting the hardest at the moment.

Before we seek to make these sorts of changes, we need to make sure, first and foremost, that reporting processes are as easy as possible. The simplification of reporting systems is something that, when in government, we were very keen to continue as a work in progress, and, as indicated by the minister, the government is intent to continue that process as well.

We would certainly say to the government, and to the Greens and Senator Steele-John, that we are absolutely committed to working to make sure the simplification of reporting systems is absolutely maximised, but before making any changes at all, in this place, they need to be well consulted and well considered. Any changes need to be fit for purpose and able to be implemented, but they also need to be able to deliver the effect that they're intending to deliver in the first place.

The opposition is happy to support an ongoing effort to make sure that the health and safety of all Australians is maximised. There are a number of recommendations that we would like to see continue to be pursued. For example, there is recommendation 22 of the medicines and medical devices review, which called on the establishment of a registry of high-risk implantable devices with a view to facilitating timely identification of emerging safety concerns.

While the opposition is opposing this amendment, for the reasons that I have stated, I want to put on the record that patient safety is absolutely first and foremost; however, we must recognise that we need to make sure that the implementation mechanism and method is appropriate and timely and doesn't have any unintended consequences.