Hollie Hughes (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention) Share this | Hansard source

I withdraw for the ease and the sake of the chamber. There were sensitivities felt here, particularly by Senator Liddle, and I noticed that the sensitivities that Senator Nampijinpa Price felt, when asking a serious question about incidents that had occurred and attacks on a candidate for the upcoming Northern Territory election, were dismissed and mocked by the minister of Indigenous affairs. Quite frankly I'm not even sure what the title is because I haven't quite memorised what all the changes have meant over the couple of weeks. Whatever Minister McCarthy's new title is, her treatment of Senator Nampijinpa Price's question, in her answer, tone and delivery, was absolutely appalling.

But interestingly it was also Senator McCarthy who gave, I think, the most disgraceful of answers when it came to the shortage of IV fluid in this country. The thing about the shortage of IV fluids, for those who've never had a job in business, let alone gone to medical school or understood how a lot of this works within the hospital system, is that IV fluids are actually very important. They're important when people are undergoing surgeries. But it might be interesting for some of you to be aware that they're actually important in obstetric care. We've got a situation at the moment where inductions of babies that could potentially be at risk are being delayed because of a shortage of IV fluid. Obstetrics can be dangerous at the best of times, but the fact that inductions are now being delayed because of this shortage of IV fluid means that the lives of babies are being put at risk. It is absolutely disgraceful.

Yet the answer that was given in this place was given with mirth. It referred back to COVID and what was happening during a global supply crisis. What actually happened, for those of you that weren't paying attention, for those of you that were trying to pay an extra—what was it, Jonno? Was it $600 for everyone who got the jab and an extra $6 billion that they wanted to pay to everyone who'd already had the jab? But give them some more money—because they've never seen an expenditure they don't want to put their arms around.

What actually happened during COVID was that the National Medical Stockpile was utilised, with stocks distributed to the states during a global shortage. We know there is no global IV fluid shortage, but what we also know is that this government, this health minister, were warned of it in March last year. Where are we now? We're in August 2024. So well over a year ago there were warnings about the IV fluid shortage, and nothing was done. All we've seen is that one week ago a monitoring group was set up. They've set up a monitoring group for a problem we already know exists.

But what was even more disgusting—it really does struggle to get to a lower level—as part of the minister's answer, which lacked any compassion at all, is that accompanying this IV shortage is a shortage of morphine. Again, for those of you that don't understand what morphine's used for—because clearly this government isn't interested—it is actually predominantly used in palliative care. It's used for people that are in the final stages of cancer, people experiencing significant pain, and there is a shortage of morphine. As for the mirth and the mocking and the smart alec answers provided by the minister, she couldn't take a moment to acknowledge not only the babies that are being put at risk through delayed inductions because of your IV fluid shortages but also the children undergoing palliative care who cannot access morphine, cannot access pain relief, because this government doesn't care.

This government's incompetence is now bleeding its way through every single system, including having direct impacts on the health of Australians. We know keeping Australians secure isn't important, with your Gaza tactics, and we now see the health— (Time expired)