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

This week marks Youth Voice in Parliament Week. This is a wonderful initiative aimed at providing the next generation with the opportunity to feel heard in their nation's parliament on the issues that they feel passionately about. So far, it's led to 216 young Australians having their voices amplified through this parliament. More than half of the participants said that it was their first engagement with Australian politics or a politician. So I would like to take this opportunity to thank Raise Our Voice Australia for the work that they have done to help young people, particularly young women, to engage with politics and feel confident in doing so. This not only strengthens our democracy but also, hopefully, encourages the next generation of Australians to put up their hand and seek to represent their community in the parliament. I also, at this time, give a shout-out to the Parliamentary Education Office, who do an amazing job of taking the parliament into our schools and also bringing our schools into the parliament.

This year's speech topic from Raise Our Voice Australia was: 'What do you want your community to look like in the next 10 years, and what can the next parliament do to achieve it?' In answer to this, the following speech was written by Grace, a young woman from my home state of South Australia:

My name is Grace, and I am a 17-year-old.

The scarcity of dignified employment and the shortage of specialist services in our fragmented healthcare system have had a profound impact on my family, myself, and many Australians.

I've had to rely on temporary steroid treatments while waiting nine months to see a specialist.

Our healthcare system frequently opts for short-term solutions without tackling the root causes of long waiting lists.

This unsustainable approach affects the welfare of all Australians and must be addressed to build the ideal community I envision for the next decade.

In South Australia, we face a severe shortage of nurses, with some managing up to six patients simultaneously.

This excessive workload endangers patient safety and prevents nurses from delivering the quality care every Australian deserves.

This situation leaves me, a 17-year-old Australian, feeling hopeless, unsupported, and unheard—a sentiment that extends beyond my personal experience to my entire community.

Honourable members of Parliament, I urge you to take decisive action on these critical issues in the coming years.

We need increased funding to boost staffing and resources, measures to shorten waiting times for specialist care, enhanced training for healthcare professionals, and expanded palliative care services.

Let us work together to create a healthcare system that delivers timely, high-quality care for both patients and healthcare workers.

The well-being of our families, communities, and future generations depends on it.

Thank you.

I firstly congratulate Grace on her really thoughtful and thought-provoking words, and thank her for the opportunity to read her speech out in the parliament today. It was absolutely worthy of being committed to the parliamentary record of all time. I also thank her for her passion on the need to improve our healthcare system in Australia for the benefit of patients, healthcare workers and the whole Australian community.

Grace has shared with me that her interest in politics began with reading the newspaper alongside her nonno. It's a privilege to be part of her continued engagement with politics through the Raise Our Voice campaign. I have no doubt she will have a bright future ahead of her. She has raised the issue of our healthcare system that too often focuses on the short term instead of looking at long-term solutions to address the challenges that we currently are facing—challenges like severe workforce shortages, including of doctors and nurses; difficulties in accessing healthcare advice; and the increasing pressure on our already overrun hospitals. There needs to be real action to ensure that all Australian patients have access to the care they need when they need it and where they need it. I'm a strong believer that in order to ensure Australians can access timely and affordable healthcare we must focus on primary care and identify ways in which we can reduce avoidable interactions with our hospitals and our healthcare system. In pursuit of long-term solutions, I believe that prevention and early intervention is key.

I'd like to assure Grace that I am focused on how we can shift our system away from one that only responds to ill health to one that is focused on achieving good health among our wider community. Creating a healthy Australia has far-reaching benefits for our health system and for Australia's economy and social outcomes more generally. Importantly, it would reduce the pressure on the system's resources and ensure Australians have timely access to the essential healthcare they need when they need it. I also agree with Grace that the current workforce crisis is one of the key issues underlying the challenges facing our healthcare system right now. Workforce shortages are impacting on almost every area of the system, and it's something that the government must take action on.

That is why, as an example, the Leader of the Opposition, Peter Dutton, announced plan to invest $400 million to incentivise junior doctors to train as GPs in the community, providing incentive payments, assistance with leave entitlements and prevocational training. This will ensure junior doctors who pursue training as GPs in the community are not financially worse off compared to doctors who remain in the hospital environment. Junior doctors who enter general practice earn about three-quarters of the salary that counterparts do in hospitals, and this pay cap, along with the loss of paid leave, is often cited as one of the biggest disincentives when young people choose a career not in general practice.

According to the RACGP, Australia's GP shortfall is expected to approach 11,000 doctors by 2031 as fewer medical graduates choose general practice as a speciality. We want to work with the RACGP and doctors across Australia to develop plans to ensure Australia has a strong pipeline of homegrown doctors to ensure Australians have affordable and timely access to essential health care. But I also acknowledge that the problem is widespread, including nurses and care workers, and that is why we will continue to call for a comprehensive strategy for the entire care sector. Australia needs a comprehensive, concerted and multifaceted approach to this problem. Otherwise, we will just keep on robbing Peter to pay Paul as siloed incentives and programs across the country move workforce from one location to another. We know this is impacting Australians in rural and regional Australia more than anywhere else. I will continue to call on government to take real action to protect all Australians' access to essential health care for the benefit of our entire nation.

Finally, I want to thank Grace for her considered contribution to an important issue for so many Australians. I hope that one day you will have the honour and privilege that I currently have: being a member of this parliament and providing yourself the opportunity to put forward your very considered approach on policy decisions to make sure that your voice and the voices of young Australians are the future of this country.