Richard Di Natale (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

(i) on 13 February 2015, health professionals, academics and policy makers met to sign the Melbourne Declaration on Building Integration and Reducing Migration Related Health Inequity,

(ii) the health status of migrants and their access to health care is influenced by their channel of migration (voluntary, humanitarian or seeking asylum), language proficiency and circumstances in their countries of origin, and

(iii) immigration presents challenges to the health systems of the host country in the delivery of culturally competent health and social services, and exacerbates disparities in health status between the migrant and host populations; and

(b) calls on the Abbott Government to:

(i) protect the health of, ensure health service provision for, and reduce health inequities of people from migrant and refugee backgrounds including forced and undocumented migrants,

(ii) ensure the provision of culturally appropriate health care, both within existing service systems and also through specialised services where needed, and

(iii) improve health communication, health information and health literacy for people from culturally and linguistically diverse communities, and of migrant, refugee and asylum seeker background.

Question agreed to.