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

I seek leave to amend general business notice of motion No. 617 standing in my name.

Leave granted.

I move the motion as amended:

That the Senate:

(a)

notes the recent decision by the Northern Territory Government to refuse to provide renal health services to new interstate patients in the border regions of Western Australia and South Australia is leading to significant hardship and poor health outcomes and potentially putting lives at risk;

(b)

raises concern over the plight of Mr Patrick Tjungurrayi, a renown member of the Pupunya Tula group of artists who together raised a million dollars to establish dialysis services in Alice Springs and Kintore, which Patrick is now unable to access;

(c)

calls on the Minister for Health and Ageing, Nicola Roxon, to negotiate an outcome to this impasse and an end to the interstate ban;

(d)

suggests that the Federal, Northern Territory, Western Australian and South Australian governments put in place interim measures to address unmet demand prior to the establishment of the new 15 seat renal unit in Alice Springs, including the provision of additional resources to enable night dialysis; and

(e)

highlights the rising demand for kidney dialysis by Aboriginal Australians in central Australia and other regions and recommends that a longer term planning process is needed to assess and respond to projected growth in the need for renal services.

Question agreed to.

Kerry O'Brien (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—The government oppose motions Nos 617 and 618, which have just been determined in the affirmative. We did not call a division because we recognise that, with the Greens and the opposition voting together, a majority for the motions was in the chamber.