Alan Ferguson (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The President has received a letter from Senator Nash proposing that a definite matter of public importance be submitted to the Senate for discussion, namely:

The failure of the Rudd Labor Government to ensure the adequate provision of health services and road infrastructure for regional communities.

I call upon those senators who approve of the proposed discussion to rise in their places.

More than the number of senators required by the standing orders having risen in their places—

I understand that informal arrangements have been made to allocate specific times to each of the speakers in today’s debate. With the concurrence of the Senate, I shall ask the clerks to set the clock accordingly.

Fiona Nash (NSW, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to address the very important matter of public importance—the failure of the Rudd Labor government to ensure the adequate provision of health services and road infrastructure for regional communities. More than seven million Australians live outside our capital cities and major metropolitan areas, and they are suffering at the hands of a dithering Rudd Labor government. They are suffering because of the continuing failure of health services in regional communities and they are suffering because of a lack of decent road infrastructure. That same Labor Party talked very tough when they were in opposition about getting things done on a whole range of issues if they formed government. They talked about it constantly during the campaign running up to the election. They talked about working together with the state Labor governments. Over and over, we continually heard about how well they, federal Labor, would be working with the state Labor governments. But what have we seen to date? Nada—absolutely nothing.

I am indebted to my colleague Senator Ronaldson for his very insightful media release of last week entitled ‘Kevin 07 and Kevin 08—a tale of two Rudds’. Australians heard Kevin Rudd say in the lead-up to last year’s federal election that he would ‘end the blame game’, that he would deliver ‘fresh ideas’ and that—everyone would remember this one—‘The buck stops with me.’ In the nine months before the election Mr Rudd said he would ‘end the blame game’ 146 times. But, surprisingly, since the election, what have we heard? We have heard him use that phrase a mere 36 times. When he said he would end the blame game, he was talking about being able to work with state Labor governments. He has used that phrase only 36 times since the election. ‘Fresh ideas’ he said 87 times leading up to the election. Guess what: he has used that phrase only seven times since the election. I am sure my colleagues will support me in saying that the phrase ‘the buck stops with me’ was heard 31 times before the election. How many times has the Prime Minister used that phrase since? Just once. The Prime Minister that we now have said in the run-up to the election, ‘The buck stops with me,’ and that he would be taking responsibility for things like hospitals and roads in the bush, but we have seen absolutely nothing.

Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

He’s busy implementing his new ideas.

Fiona Nash (NSW, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

How many times has the Prime Minister said that he can work with the state Labor governments? It has been over and over and over again. We are still waiting. When is the work going to begin?

We are watching Mr Rudd, and the federal Labor government is apparently watching pretty much everything. We have Fuelwatch, watching petrol prices; ‘grocery watch’, looking at household items—and we know what a disaster that has been—‘school watch’, which was in last week’s education funding announcement; ‘sports watch’, which was in last week’s sporting structure reform announcement; ‘Asia watch’, the Asia-Pacific union announcement earlier this year; ‘nuke watch’, keeping an eye on the nuclear disarmament group; and, of course, ‘state watch’ or COAG. These are good examples of Labor being all talk and no action. What are the Prime Minister and his government actually doing to ensure the adequate provision of health services and road infrastructure for regional communities? Absolutely nothing. After all those promises we heard running up to the election, we have nothing. Maybe we will end up with ‘bush watch’.

Speaking of watches, I think if the Prime Minister were a watch he would be a fake Rolex—lacking in detail, lacking in quality and lacking in craftsmanship. It is a cheap substitute for the real thing. From a distance, it does look like the real thing, but it is not.

In my state of New South Wales we are witnessing a health system in crisis. Across the state rarely a day will pass without reference to a health system crisis in the inadequate standard of care, staffing shortfalls, lack of bed availability, long hospital waiting times, non-availability of specialist services and complete lack of adequate infrastructure. If you are looking for examples of a crisis, you need look no further than the transcripts from the 34 public hearings which were held between February and May this year and conducted as part of the special commission of inquiry into acute care services in New South Wales public hospitals.

And the state of roads across New South Wales is no better. There are serious delays to projects getting underway and, even worse, they are finishing well beyond planned completion dates and there are huge budget blowouts due to gross mismanagement by New South Wales Labor.

It is interesting to look at specific communities. I would like to have a look today at Port Macquarie as an example of federal Labor’s inability to deliver health and road infrastructure in the region. Keep in mind that before the election Mr Rudd was constantly talking about working with the state Labor governments and ending the blame game. The hospital situation in Port Macquarie is in crisis. The Port Macquarie Base Hospital was built to handle around 12,000 to 14,000 presentations. By the end of the last financial year there had been an astonishing 31,000-plus presentations at the emergency department alone. We have had problems with elective surgery and cancellations. A local doctor said that almost 60 per cent of the 981 cancellations in the past financial year could have been avoided by increasing the hospital’s capacity. We can see that the base hospital is operating at more than double its capacity.

The people of Port Macquarie were, until recently, represented in the New South Wales state parliament by the Independent state member Mr Robert Oakeshott. In 2003, Mr Oakeshott committed to:

Making certain that appropriate levels of funding are provided to Port Macquarie Base Hospital, so that local residents can make full use of the excellent medical services available. This will include advocating for additional funds to reduce the inequitably high waiting list at Port Macquarie Base Hospital.

He also promised a fourth wing to increase the capacity of the hospital. On these, Mr Oakeshott has failed to deliver time after time. Why? Because, like Labor, the Independent state member for Port Macquarie talked tough but failed to deliver because he had no influence on the state Labor government. The federal Labor government cannot work with the state to produce any decent health outcomes and it is failing the people of those regions.

Interestingly, we are seeing, in the roads situation up there, enormous problems for people in the region. There have been huge blowouts over the last 10 years and gross mismanagement from an incompetent Labor government—the Labor government that Mr Oakeshott says he works so cooperatively with. Interestingly, he was recently in the paper photographed with Mr Albanese talking about roads. So the roads to Port Macquarie have been paved with disaster. For the Independent previous state member to say that he has delivered for the community in Port Macquarie is absolutely false. We can see that he continually said how closely he worked with Labor and how much he would deliver for the regions. Well, there has been absolutely nothing. Federal Labor has had absolutely no ability to address the funding for health and roads that is needed in the area.

We have a situation where the previous Independent state member is saying how much he could deliver for the region. It is an absolute falsehood because we only have to look at the state of the hospitals and the state of the roads to see that all of those promises that the Prime Minister put forward before the election campaign have not been delivered on. He said, ‘We will fix the hospitals.’ He has not been able to do it and he has not been able to work with the state Labor government to do it. The previous Independent state member had no ability to do it either. He claimed he could work cooperatively with Labor, but he could not deliver anything. Quite frankly, he will not be able to deliver anything for the region while working with a federal Labor government. He has got form, he has not been able to deliver anything with the state Labor government and he certainly will not be able to deliver anything with the federal Labor government. It is an absolutely appalling state of affairs for this Prime Minister to have promised to fix hospitals and roads in our regional communities. He has completely failed, the state Labor government have failed with them and the regional communities across this country deserve better.

Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to make some comments about Senator Nash’s contribution. I say sincerely that the Rudd Labor government does take seriously the provision of health services and road infrastructure for regional communities—make no mistake about that—but, Senator Nash, I am sure that for the last five minutes you were talking about the by-election for the seat of Lyne. It was held by a National, Mr Vaile. Was that his seat? Now there is some threat from Mr Oakeshott, who is an Independent. I do not know what the heck that has got to do with providing quality health services, transport and infrastructure in regional areas but, obviously, the National Party are quite worried. They should not be worried; they should be on a high—it is not every day that you take over the Queensland Liberals. Sorry, Mr Deputy President, I will try not to giggle on that one. I am sure that it will only stay in Queensland and we will see how long that goes for. Before I get on to the importance of health and transport infrastructure in regional and rural Australia, I did some calculations before I came into the chamber. I go back to 1996, when the Howard government was elected to office. I am sure that Senator Nash, Senator Joyce—or Senator Boswell, who has been here longer and was here in the old building—

Ron Boswell (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am the father of the house.

Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You are the father of the house and we respect every word that you utter in this chamber. But back in 1996—while we are on the conversation of National Party held seats—there were some 18 National Party members in the House of Representatives and maybe five senators. The latest count was about nine National Party members in the House of Representatives and four senators. So I did struggle to see why we were going through a matter of public importance talking about the by-election for the seat of Lyne on Saturday. But I would like to get back to the matter of public importance.

Fiona Nash (NSW, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The provision of health services.

Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It makes sense now, Senator Nash. It is clear now. I would like to go back and talk about what the Rudd Labor government has done for road infrastructure for regional communities. I think it is very important that the Prime Minister has made it very clear to all and sundry—and I cannot tell you how many times he has said it, I am sorry, Senator Nash—that in our first budget we have provided a record $3.2 billion for road and rail projects across the country. There could be an argument that it is not all regional. No, it is not all regional but there is a heck of a lot that is regional. I would like to add this: as demonstrated in my previous life, I do hold the importance of roads in regional Australia closely to my heart—because there is not one committee in Western Australia I have not been on and I have been on a lot through the Northern Territory, Queensland and a sprinkling through Victoria, New South Wales and the ACT.

So road infrastructure is very important not only to the communities that rely on those roads for safe travelling but also to those communities that rely on good transport infrastructure, whether it be the agricultural industry, or the mining industry from that great state of Queensland, where Senator Boswell and Senator Joyce come from, or Western Australia, where I come from. So it is all intertwined. It is very important and, sadly, it is very easy to talk about what you are going to do through election periods and make all sorts of commitments but it is there in the budget, $3.2 billion.

I will talk about some of the major projects that I believe will deliver fantastic outcomes for all industries and communities in rural and regional Australia. If I may, I will talk about your home state, Senator Nash. In New South Wales, work has started on the Ballina bypass on the Pacific Highway. I have travelled the Pacific Highway. As part of our record $2.45 billion upgrade program, we will soon be calling for tenders for the Alstonville bypass. We are spending $2.45 billion.

In Victoria, we will start the planning to upgrade the Western Highway and the Princes Highway and do preconstruction work for the Nagambie bypass. I have travelled the Western Highway and the Princes Highway. They are two very important arterials, with goods going to and from those rural and regional communities.

In Queensland, the Townsville port access road will be delivered up to two years early—we are talking about two years here. I might sound like a broken record, but I went to the Port of Townsville with one of our committees a couple of years ago. They desperately needed that upgrade. When I visited the Port of Townsville, the Rudd Labor government was not in power. Senator Nash, it was your side of politics—well, it was the Liberals, and you guys were sort of agreeing with everything they did and rolling over to get your tummies tickled.

We are also doing up the Bruce Highway, which is probably one of the worst. The last time that I travelled it, it was probably the worst highway in Australia. In fact, I went out to Warburton once, which is 600 kilometres out of Leonora, on a dirt road. I have to tell you that the Bruce Highway, even though it was bitumen, was a lot worse than that dirt road. We are moving on. That will be finished two years early. We are doing that for Queensland. In South Australia, safety upgrades have started on the Dukes Highway.

I want to touch on a few projects in that fantastic state of Western Australia. Let me confirm for the Senate that it will not be long before we finish the new Perth-Bunbury Highway. That is a massive infrastructure project, and it is long overdue. There is also planning for the Bunbury port access road. The city of Bunbury—for those senators who have not been there—is integral to Western Australia’s productivity, whether it be in agriculture or mining in that part of the world. Sadly, infrastructure has been lacking over the last decade or two.

While we listen to senators opposite bang on and give us a dusting-up about what we have not done or what we have said we are going to do, it is there: $3.2 billion in the budget. That is not a bad start.

Ron Boswell (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Boswell interjecting—

Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Boswell, it is a record: $3.2 billion. I am glad Senator Boswell is interjecting over there. Before I came to this great place I read some reports of inquiries that you were very active in, Senator Boswell. Burning the midnight oil was one of them. That was a very good report that you worked on, Senator Boswell. You have an active interest in transport.

Barnaby Joyce (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That is what you did to Peter.

Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That is quite harsh. Quite clearly, the neglect over the last 12 years was not under a Labor government. No, no, no. The neglect was under a Liberal-National coalition government.

Opposition Senators:

Opposition senators interjecting—

Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am glad that the National senators in the corner over there have woken up, because this should get them jumping. It is very important for all those out there listening to understand that the neglect over 11½ long years of a Liberal coalition government was under the watch of National Party ministers. Senator Ronaldson, I am letting your side off. We cannot blame the Libs entirely on this, because the Nationals think that they have this God-given right to be ministers for transport.

I want to put on the record that I have the greatest respect for not only rural and regional Australians but those involved in agriculture and farming. Without them, Australia does not eat. I want to acknowledge that. I have always acknowledged the importance of farming communities to Australia’s prosperity and substance. I look across the chamber and I see farmers or ex-farmers: Senator Heffernan; Senator Ferguson, the Deputy President and ex-President; and Senator Fisher.

Ron Boswell (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Joyce.

Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

When Senator Joyce and I came through Senate school, he was an accountant, but all of a sudden he is a farmer. Am I wrong, Senator Joyce?

Barnaby Joyce (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am both.

Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You are both? So you are an accounting farmer. It is sad that the Nationals claim transport and infrastructure. Senator Ronaldson, I am going to blame your side. Farmers need representation. But I do not believe that the Nationals are the ones to deliver that representation. The Liberals would probably claim that. Every time I ask a Liberal who is a farmer why they are not a National, they growl at me. I do not know what has upset them there.

The sad part is that no responsible Australian government should entrust anything with a steering wheel to a National. I make no apology for that comment. As soon as they touch anything with a steering wheel, it gets neglected. What did they do over the last 11 to 12 years? They stuffed it up. And that is no disrespect to farmers, none at all—just to those in the Nationals. I do not know why they think that they are everything fantastic to the transport industry. It has me absolutely bamboozled. They bang on about what we have not done and what promises we have made, but I am happy to give Senator Nash a copy of the speaking notes that I got off the website. Spending $3.2 billion is not bad.

I want to talk about some more projects in Western Australia. When I used to travel up and down that great highway, Highway 1, it used to bamboozle me why we had to put up with single-lane bitumen and dirt roads. I will tell you why: it was because the Nationals were centred around their farming districts. That is good for farmers, but the transport routes for mining and everything moving north in Western Australia were neglected. Why? Because there was not a National in sight. All the pork-barrelling was done where there were marginal National seats.

I was very entertained by Senator Nash’s contribution, as I will be quietly entertained by Senator Boswell and Senator Joyce. They will not devote one second to the inaction of National Party ministers in the previous government. With the greatest of respect, I will like seeing how you dodge and duck from that. You cannot put your hands on your hearts and look me in the eye and tell me that your former colleagues in the National Party were the best thing for the transport industry or for road infrastructure in regional and rural Australia. We went through a lot of pork-barrelling in the last election—a hell of a lot.

Anyway, the Rudd Labor government will deliver on important infrastructure in regional and rural Australia. Not only that, we have a $20 billion fund. I did not see $20 billion coming out under the previous government.

Fiona Nash (NSW, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Nash interjecting—

Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You had four goes at it. You say you left us the money. Well, we are going to spend it and we will spend it on important things, Senator Nash. Thank you for that interjection. We will spend the money on regional and rural communities, whether it is in health or in transport infrastructure. Twenty billion dollars has been put aside into the Building Australia Fund. ‘Twenty billion dollars’ may roll off the tongue. That is a heck of a lot of money. It is $20 billion that was not there before. I do not know where you had it hidden. I would have to ask Mr Swan but I am sure he will be able to tell me where it was. That is $20 billion to invest in nation-building infrastructure: $20 billion to rebuild our road and rail networks and roll out world-class broadband. Why? Because it had not been done. Under the Nationals and under the previous government, it had not been done.

Fiona Nash (NSW, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Nash interjecting—

Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Sadly, Senator Nash. Senator Nash, I have a couple of minutes left. I am happy to give you a couple of minutes and you can tell us more about the by-election in Lyne this week. It really has got you worried, obviously, because an Independent will take your seat. Anyway, we will wait until Saturday and we will see that.

That is $20 billion to undo 11½ long years of neglect. Worse than all of the past neglect of those opposite is their current attempt to raid the Building Australia Fund. Every cent that that side of the chamber knock off the surplus comes out of the Building Australia Fund. So, Senator Nash, when you are at your party room tomorrow with your colleagues I hope you think about that, and I hope you do, Senator Boswell and Senator Joyce: every single cent will come out of that fund, and that fund is put aside for building Australia. And a lot of that is for infrastructure in the areas that you purport to represent—that some of you do represent; some of you do not.

Every time that those opposite block a budget bill they block further funding for Australia’s national highways and rail networks—the very thing I hear them scream about. How can you put your hand on your heart and justify knocking us back on the budget that we had the mandate to put forward? How can you do that?

Ron Boswell (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Boswell interjecting—

Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Boswell, can you go up to Queensland and out to those cane growers who rely on railway services and good roads, or those growers in the far north of Queensland or the mining companies, look them in the eye and say, ‘We’re doing the right thing for you’? That brings me to one thing. I just cannot help this, but I have this thing about Nationals claiming to represent infrastructure and transport. I want to steal a line that I found of Sir Winston Churchill. I thought it was one of the best ones that I had heard. I would like to relay it to the Nationals. It talks about the Nationals. It says: ‘They are a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma swallowed by a joke, covered in bananas, sprinkled with peanuts, dipped in ethanol.’ Mr Acting Deputy President, I thank you for your time.

Barnaby Joyce (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Acting Deputy President, I rise on a point of order. I would like to draw your attention to Senator Sterle saying that that would be a quote from Winston Churchill. I believe that what he has just given is a quote from Glenn Sterle, with a little bit of Winston Churchill thrown in. As such—

Gary Humphries (ACT, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I think there is no point of order. Thank you, Senator Joyce. Senator Sterle, your time has expired.

Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On the point of order—

The Acting Deputy President:

There is no point of order.

Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would just like to acknowledge Senator Joyce’s—

Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would also like to speak on this matter of public importance: the failure of the Rudd Labor government to ensure adequate provision of health services and rural infrastructure for regional communities. I would like to point out that we have had years of neglect and failure of governments to provide adequate health services in regional areas. Not that I am here to defend the government, because I have a whole lot of my own criticisms, but to expect them to have fixed in the last nine months the problems that rural communities have faced is really a big ask. What we should be looking at are some of the longstanding issues that are affecting rural and regional health and infrastructure in our communities. I would not put the focus on road infrastructure, particularly in this day and age with greenhouse effects and climate change coming down at us; I would be looking at the broader infrastructure needs of the rural and regional communities and looking at what we need to do to face the impact of climate change in rural communities. I suggest the focus of this matter of public importance would actually be targeted better at that, rather than just looking at roads.

While I am on the issue of infrastructure, we note today the release of the discussion paper by Infrastructure Australia, which fortunately has picked up on those arguments that my colleague Senator Milne made very strongly in this place when debating a particular piece of legislation. I notice that one of the goals in the paper that was released today is about environmental sustainability and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. We are very pleased to see that as a goal in this paper—a goal to look at the strategic priorities to reduce greenhouse emissions. The Greens believe that this will, if it is in fact achieved and implemented, strongly address the needs of regional and rural communities.

However, I would like to move on to the issues around health. The Greens are very well aware of the very major issues that are facing rural and regional Australia, particularly when you look at some of the absolutely appalling health statistics. We know for a start that health outcomes for those suffering from cancer in rural areas are much poorer compared to their city counterparts. Overall, we also know that rural males have higher rates of disease burdens due to cardiovascular disease, cancer, neurological and sense disorders, chronic respiratory diseases, musculoskeletal diseases and other injuries compared to their metropolitan counterparts. Overall for rural females, we know that there are higher rates of disease burden due to cardiovascular disease, cancer and, again, neurological diseases and sense disorders. They have much higher rates compared to their city counterparts. When you look at psychiatric services, there are approximately 113 Medicare funded psychiatric services per thousand people in major cities and 19 per thousand people in very remote areas. That is a very significant difference. It is now documented that rurality, which is ‘living in a rural or remote location’, creates a higher risk of suicide. Suicide rates for males in rural and remote communities have increased steadily over the past 20 years and the rates for young males are consistently higher in small, rural communities than in metro and regional areas. In fact, rural Australia has one of the highest rates of youth suicide in the world.

Hypertension is a major disease burden in regional and remote areas. Its incidence is significantly higher in these areas. The average life expectancy of people living in rural and remote areas is generally up to five years less than for people living in major cities. The list of health issues related to living in rural and remote Australia is very extensive. There is also the lack of access to regional hospitals, doctors, GPs, nurses, dental services and mental health services and there is the state of Indigenous health—which I will come back to in a minute. Services in those areas are all suffering compared to metropolitan services. In addition, it is very hard to get let alone keep staff. All these issues are affecting rural and regional services. Having lived in the bush, and having experienced lack of access to doctors and medical services, I can testify to the problems that are caused in regional communities when you do not have access to good medical services. On many occasions my family and I had to travel hours and hours from where we lived just to see the doctor. Just to see the GP for a 10- to 15-minute appointment you had to spend two hours in a car. These are significant issues that I think people in the city just do not understand.

Of particular concern to us is mental health in regional communities. Data recently released by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare highlighted the lack of mental health services in country areas. The Greens have long argued for increased funding for these services and for education in the prevention and early detection of mental illness. There is a very large shortfall in mental health support in regional areas that definitely needs to be addressed. Early last month the National Rural Health Alliance said:

We need to build sustainable primary health care systems for the bush that include mental health services. These will be different from those in the city and different between rural areas and remote areas.

We believe it is an essential priority for the government to address.

We are also deeply concerned about Indigenous health. People in this place will be in no doubt as to how the Greens, and I in particular, feel about the issues around Indigenous health. I have spoken on that issue numerous times in this place. Just to remind people: there is a gap of 17 years in life expectancy between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. That is one of the worst gaps in the world and Australia is one of the only First World nations that is not significantly closing that gap. We have a lot that we need to achieve, including providing primary healthcare services, providing a significant injection of funding and providing better access to Medicare benefits and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme—not to mention addressing overcrowded housing.

Then we need to look at dental care. If you are living in regional or rural Australia and you are not on a dentist’s or a GP’s list, you can whistle Dixie if you need to get some treatment. You do not just roll up at a GP’s office—or at a dentist’s office, for that matter—or ring and make an appointment. If you are not on their appointments schedule, you just do not get a look-in. We need to significantly improve the dental care system in this country. We need to look at the significant workforce issues that continue to impact on health care in the metropolitan areas let alone in the regional areas, where it is extremely difficult to get trained staff.

I have not even touched on the issues that are facing those living with a disability, carers and older Australians. Older Australians need access to aged care and carers need access to services and respite. In many areas that is non-existent. We need to look at what we can do with training. We need to look at better ways of providing healthcare services to regional Australians, including, for example, establishing multipurpose community healthcare centres with a holistic approach to health where people can get fast and efficient service. Then we can start addressing the huge disparity between rural and city health. Of course, that will take a commitment by government, and that is a commitment that has not been given by past governments either. These poor health stats did not come overnight. They did not suddenly develop in the last nine months. I still find it rather intriguing when the coalition put up matters of public importance like this seeking to address these issues. They were in government for 11 years and these issues went unaddressed. Some issues—for example, mental health—no doubt deteriorated over that period of time.

This is not something that, admittedly, can be changed overnight. But we do expect this government to make a much more significant contribution. For example, how about getting rid of the private health insurance rebate? You would have $3.6 billion right there and then. People living in rural Australia often cannot use their private health insurance. I know in my home state of Western Australia you would be struggling to find a private hospital outside of the metropolitan area. (Time expired)

Ron Boswell (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am joining this debate on the matter of public importance on the failure of the Rudd Labor government to ensure the adequate provision of health services and road infrastructure for regional communities. Health and transport are vital to our regional communities. The only way investments in regional areas are delivered is when there are coalition governments and coalition representatives in state and federal parliaments. Labor never really worries about regional areas because it does not have to. It neglects most of the regional areas because it can. That is not where its power base lies. The coalition by its very definition is a broad partnership between city and country where regional votes have a dedicated role in setting the political agenda. There is no power incentive for Labor to deliver health and road infrastructure. That is the way it has always been historically in the rural and regional areas. That is why the voters of Lyne for many years have consistently returned National members of parliament to deliver for them someone who can be inside the government tent.

In the face of such Labor neglect of critical infrastructure in regional areas what options do the voters of Lyne have at the upcoming by-election? Labor has so little confidence in themselves as a new government that they are not even running a candidate. But then they hardly need to because, if the Independent candidate gets up, Labor will have won anyway. If the Independent wins, Labor wins. That is the simple message for those concerned about health and road infrastructure in regional areas.

The Labor government in power will not be threatened or even sent a message if an Independent wins in Lyne. Labor wins, because it is another seat taken away from the coalition that makes it harder for them to win government back. If the voters of Lyne are conservative voters, as many are, then voting Independent puts a conservative government further away, not closer. I do not believe that the voters of Lyne support the Rudd government. Neither should they.

Small business confidence under the Rudd government has collapsed to the lowest level ever. Working families are far worse off in Kevin Rudd’s economy than they were in John Howard’s. The Labor government has acted to increase costs on Australian families. They have increased the taxes on alcohol, cars, transport by trucks and travel, while forcing up the cost of health insurance. It is also clear that Labor’s emissions trading scheme will add to prices, particularly for electricity. The Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, said recently that they have ‘done as much as they physically could to provide additional help to the family budget’.

Rural and regional areas suffer the most neglect when their voice in the corridors of power is restricted to a single voice. Then it is a whisper, a lonely whisper down here that has to compete with the loud and strong voices of political parties. We are a party system of parliamentary democracy. We are that way for a very good reason. It is how things get done; it is how running a country is best organised. It is not perfect but it is the best way of doing it that mankind has been able to develop. When the coalition was in office net household wealth trebled from 1996 to 2007. Since November last year that wealth has gone backwards by five per cent. A vote for an Independent in Lyne is a vote for going backwards even quicker. If an Independent is elected in Lyne, that will give a tremendous boost to the Rudd Labor government. It will be a reward for neglecting regional health and road funding. Voting Independent helps Labor and puts the coalition another seat behind in the next federal election. So if the voters of Lyne want the coalition to take the reins of government, they must vote for the coalition candidate. Voting Independent is a luxury that regional health and road infrastructure simply cannot afford.

Claire Moore (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I was interested when I saw this motion that it seemed we had an expectation that a change of government—a change of government that we all acknowledge happened late last year—was going to somehow magically fulfil all the wishes of everyone across the whole of the community at once. Now less than 12 months later we have an urgency motion that says that everything is ‘rooned’ since the Labor government came to power. I will speak, Mr Acting Deputy President, as you well know, particularly on the issues of health in this area, but I just want to take a little bit of time to talk about a concern I have, which was actually the focus of Senator Boswell’s comments—that is, an inference that the only people who have knowledge of or care about those issues to do with rural or regional Australia are those who are in either the National Party or the Liberal Party, and I think that Senator Boswell was speaking particularly on behalf of the National Party.

Ron Boswell (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I was speaking on behalf of the coalition.

Claire Moore (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

So, on behalf of the coalition. I would just like to put on record that there are very many people who are not in the coalition who have close links with and knowledge of what is happening in rural and regional Australia. I know that Senator Stephens, who is sitting there, will be able to speak. I do not know whether she is an academic, a politician and a farmer, or how it all works together. Certainly, both sides of my own family have a long history of farming on the Darling Downs in Queensland. Many of my cousins are still there and I think that they would be a little surprised to hear that just because I have chosen to be a representative of the Australian Labor Party I have somehow lost all the knowledge, support and nurturing that my family have given me throughout my life to now. I am worried that there is some inference being made that your political beliefs automatically except you from particular knowledge and awareness of what is happening in the community.

When the election was called, when we were in that process and when the election result was known, Mr Rudd in accepting the choice of the Australian people made many comments that he was there as a representative of all Australians and that he was not going to be representing a segment of the community. Our policies, those which we are putting forward now in response to the election result, actually take account of the needs and concerns of all Australians. The urgency motion that we have before us talks particularly about rural Australia and, whilst from my point of view I will be talking about some of the things we have done for health, the way all policies that are developed by our party need to look at their impact on all Australians. It is really difficult to find one issue that you can segment and about which you can say, ‘That only has an effect on people who live in that part of the world,’ because there are knock-on effects. There are always decisions made in one part of any policy agenda which will inevitably roll over to others. But in the time that I have I want to put on record in this debate here in the Senate again—because Senator Sterle had talked about infrastructure and roads—some of the things that the Australian Labor Party has done particularly for those members of our community who happen to live in rural or regional Australia.

One of the things we did was to commission an immediate audit of the workplace issues around health in our country—and we know that this has been a discussion point for many years. There is not a finger-pointing game or a blame game about this. What we are saying is that there has been a wealth of anecdotal knowledge that there have been shortages across all areas of the medical workforce across Australia but in particular in rural Australia. So the incoming government automatically commissioned an audit to find out what was happening in rural and regional Australia, and the results were no surprise. It clearly noted that there were massive shortages across all elements of the medical workforce. We now have that data and we have released the audit report.

I am worried about why people on the other side of this place seem to be so appalled by the idea of having reviews or taking things into consideration, because I thought that was our job—to look at what was happening, to see what has been going on and then to work out policy that responds to that. With this audit we have put on record what many people knew and what we had been told by people from the National Rural Health Alliance—that there were shortages, that there were insufficient doctors, insufficient nurses and insufficient medical support workers in areas such as radiography and physiotherapy and in all those professions to provide the services which all Australians need. As a result of that audit, we now have the record. We have the baseline data that indicates where the shortages are across Australia and what we are going to do about them.

Only recently we created a new section in the Department of Health and Ageing which has a full focus on issues of rural health. We now have the Office of Rural Health—since 1 July 2008—and that came about much as a result of that focus on what the workforce areas were. In announcing this new office in the overall Department of Health and Ageing, the Minister for Health and Ageing said that this new Office of Rural Health would be there specifically to drive reform in the area of rural health.

One of the clear issues has been the basis of the health system when looking at allocation of resources. It has been a classification system which has been in place in the department of health for many years. We have had many discussions at Senate estimates about exactly how the RRMA system operates and whether an area, if it is on one side of a border, will get special treatment in the allocation of resources. We are going to have a review of this system—and I say that proudly—because we want to see what many people have been questioning for many years. We want to know exactly whether the RRMA system that was introduced in the past is the most effective mechanism to provide the basis for classification into the future. We are going to see if the RRMA process effectively responds to the incentives in the rural health policy so that we can make sure that the current population figures and areas of need are defined—that this basic model works so that the basis on which allocation of resources is made is accurate. That came out of the audit, and that will be the responsibility of the Office of Rural Health.

We are going to look at the existing programs that support rural health professionals and see whether that can be done better. In fact, it has to be done better because it is not working well now. We are not effectively providing support to the professionals who choose to work in the bush, because they are not staying. We also know that they are ageing, and people are questioning whether it is going to be a long-term process.

Through the Office of Rural Health, we are going to oversee the significant contribution of funding that the government has already made to rural health. One result of the knowledge about the workforce is a particular focus on the workforce. This government is going to spend about $4.6 million over four years to place an extra 600 medical students in rural or remote communities as part of their on-the-job training. As we have said for many years, that will give people who have chosen to work in the medical field real-life experience working in rural areas. You have to build up confidence and knowledge based on real experience to make choices about where you are going to work in the future, and this is actually looking at medical students now.

There is an expectation that the same kind of on-the-job training could be provided across a whole range of medical areas, and certainly one of my hopes is that it will be provided in the area of mental health. I hope we will be able to encourage people in the psychology and psychiatry areas to move into the rural areas so that they can provide immediate support there. These are the kinds of issues that have been raised by a number of people, because there is no ignorance about what the challenges and the needs are. Certainly in recent years, with the horrific impact of the drought and market pressures on people who are living in regional areas, the Australian community as a whole must be aware of what is happening in those areas and one element of the government’s response must be to provide effective medical services.

We are looking at scholarships in the area of rural clinical placement. We are looking at expanding the medical specialist outreach program, one we have talked about many times in the community affairs area, to allow specialist services to provide services in people’s own homes. I want to particularly mention the extra money provided for the Jane McGrath Foundation—I have talked about this before—and that is in the area of cancer nurses.

Consistently there is an acknowledgement that extra resources need to be placed in rural areas, but I do caution anyone believing that they have all the answers or that they can label people by what they see as exactly what their knowledge and concerns are. This government is committed to providing support across a whole range of areas to people who live in rural areas, but I want to say that I think that is a job for all of us. Just because we are on this side of the chamber does not mean that we do not have close ties with and an understanding of rural Australia.

Barnaby Joyce (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is wonderful when Senator Sterle starts giving us Churchillian quotes because there is just so much ammunition that you can go on all day. Senator Sterle started with his misquote of Churchill’s statement on 1 October 1939 about the Soviet Union being a puzzle inside a riddle wrapped in an enigma. This could possibly show us Labor Party policy on economics. This could easily be a quotation about exactly where they are going to spend their $20 billion infrastructure fund. It was good to hear Senator Sterle say that they are going to spend it all in regional Australia. He quoted that here today, and we look forward to that—or maybe that will just become another promise that falls by the wayside. But Senator Sterle, on his game as he usually is, has now announced to all and sundry that all of the $20 billion is going to be spent in regional Australia. I welcome and applaud that, but I look forward to the detail hitting the table. What is so incredible and fatuous about a Labor government is that there is no detail. There are just statements and more glitter than you could see at certain parades held in Sydney at certain times. It is an amazing position where we always get these marvellous statements which they can never ever back up. There is Fuelwatch, grocery watch and school watch, and on and on it goes but they never actually seem to come forward with the detail.

I commend Senator Moore’s statement about health, but I want to go through Labor’s record on health. The statistics are that people in regional areas are 35 per cent more likely to die within five years of a diagnosis of cancer than patients in larger cities. This is with state Labor governments looking after health. The Queensland Cancer Council says that it is worried that some rural cancer patients may be deciding against treatment because of higher accommodation and travel costs. Rural patients requiring radiation therapy often need to stay in a major city. In 1987 patients got an allowance of $30 a night. Today under Labor in Queensland what is it per night? It is $30. This is a clear statement, in dollar terms, of how Labor sees regional Australia. Regional Australians have been left completely bereft. Labor go through all the platitudes and the rhetoric of talking about the regional issue but they are very, very lacking in delivery and even further lacking in detail.

While we are on Churchillian quotes, another thing Churchill said was: ‘An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.’ Maybe that was Senator Sterle if he had known that quote rather than the one he made up. He probably realised that that is possibly a quote about independence—the one who hopes that the crocodile will eat him last. Currently the Independent who is standing for Lyne, Mr Oakeshott, not only is grabbing the glory for things he did not have anything to do with but says he is going to work very closely with the Labor government, and I think that is something that the people of Lyne need to know. The only way you will ever get anything through this parliament is to get a majority in the other house and a majority in this house. Nothing has ever got through this parliament with only one vote. I am not casting any aspersions against their characters, but not one vote has ever been determined by Mr Katter or Mr Windsor. They are completely and utterly irrelevant. They are very nice people but they are completely and utterly irrelevant, because they fail to have the conviction to nail their colours to the mast.

What is interesting about Mr Oakeshott is that he will not actually come forward and say what he would do if all his stars were aligned and it really did come down to his vote to determine who would hold the treasury benches. You would think a man of conviction, a man who stands by his people would be able to say, ‘If that were the case, I would either back the Labor Party or I would back the conservative side of government.’ It is a very simple question.

Michael Ronaldson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Special Minister of State) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Won’t he do it?

Barnaby Joyce (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

None of them do it. These are the people of conviction who cannot tell you, who cannot tell their own people, who they would like to run the country. That is the sort of conviction you get, which is no conviction whatsoever. It is actually buttering only one slice of bread, and that is your own piece. It is not so much looking after your community, being a partisan representative of your community, but a parochial representative of yourself.

Because we are on Churchillian quotes I think one of the better ones is: ‘However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.’ That is another Churchill one. So I want to give a few results. With the Labor Party we have Fuelwatch, which is now a complete fiasco, and we have grocery watch and school watch. Under the coalition, the conservatives, we have the paying off of $96 billion in debt. Under Labor we now have the highest inflation on record, the highest interest rates on record and the lowest business confidence on record. The only thing that is growing is unemployment. Under the conservatives we had what they call the ‘wonder down under economy’. I think these are the sorts of results you have to look at. These are the sorts of results that you are going to be held to account for. There is a complete lack of detail. There is a vacuum waiting for detail to come into it. That is why we will not be able to fix health under this government, that is why we will not be able to fix the roads under this government and that is why this economy will struggle under this government—because they lack the acumen to provide the detail. It is all glitz and glamour but it lacks detail, and sooner rather than later the Australian people are going to start asking for that detail and we will assist them in the process.

The next one will be your environmental trading scheme. We are waiting for that one. That will be a complete dog and cat show. You wait for that to turn up. Yet all we have at the moment is this propaganda in place of detail. They are terrified of actually tabling something of consequence. But one day soon, after the Australian people have paid off your ads on television, we might actually get the chance to see something and be able to tell people how this is going to affect them. (Time expired)

Gary Humphries (ACT, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! This matter has now concluded.