John Williams (NSW, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Regional Services, Sport, Local Government and Decentralisation, Senator McKenzie. Minister, how will the Liberal-National government's commitment to guaranteeing access to the essential services that Australians rely on, including health services, benefit all Australians, particularly those in regional Australia?

Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party, Minister for Regional Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Williams, for the question. The Liberal-National government has a vision to see all Australians have access to high-quality health services, no matter where they live. But high-quality health service delivery actually requires highly trained experts out of capital cities. Our $550 million Stronger Rural Health Strategy will deliver thousands more doctors, thousands more nurses and hundreds more allied health professionals to rural and regional Australia. This is a 10-year strategy that is only possible because of Australia's strong economic position.

But this is not all that we're doing. The Liberal and National government are not content just to deliver the most transformational package for general practice training in over three decades; we're also taking this one step further. Last month, I convened the first-ever national summit on rural medical specialist training to continue our work in revolutionising how we train our doctors and specialists to ensure we have more opportunity for them to work in our regions, because we know from the research that this will mean they're more likely to practice out in the regions.

The summit heard from leaders in the field: the Australian Medical Association; the medical deans association; eight regional universities offering medical training; the specialist colleges, which are so integral to this working—the physicians, radiologists, pathologists et cetera; and our states and territories. Delivery of medical specialist training out in the regions will require a hand-in-glove approach with our state and territory governments because they actually run public hospitals. We need to make sure that they have training positions out in the regions.

From the summit there were clear aims and goals to encourage collaboration, particularly between our states, territories and the Commonwealth and the training colleges to develop support for rural medical trainees, ensuring job security and pathways for a successful and prosperous medical specialist career in the regions.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Williams, a supplementary question.

John Williams (NSW, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I ask the minister: what action has the government taken to support aspiring regional doctors and health professionals so as to guarantee and deliver essential health services?

Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party, Minister for Regional Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thanks to our record funding in health year on year and as far as the eye can see for each and every state and territory, we're determined to drive real change in the way we train our medical cohort. We've invested in general practice training through the Stronger Rural Health Strategy, but there's still more to do to increase the number of doctors practising out in the regions. It's a long-term plan and it's only able to be delivered because Australia's economy is in a strong position. That allows us as the government, state governments and, indeed, medical junior trainees to make career decisions and life-changing decisions about where they're going to train, where they're going to practise, where they're going to run a business and where they're going to raise their families. Our rural medical specialist training summit was the start of replicating the transformational approach. It will help us develop the national medical workforce strategy that we're looking forward to taking to the COAG Health Council in the near future.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Williams, a final supplementary question.

John Williams (NSW, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the minister for that answer and I ask: how is the government's strong economic and fiscal management allowing it to implement measures that will improve the health outcomes of patients across regional Australia and guarantee the essential services that Australians rely on?

Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party, Minister for Regional Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You can't deliver record funding to each and every state and territory year on year and as far as the eye can see for the provision of health services in our capital cities, in our public hospitals and in the regions without having a strong economy. Right now Australia, with its growth of over 3.4 per cent, is the envy of the G7, and that is as a result of us increasing employment, backing small business and having the policy settings to see more revenue delivered to government for us to spend on the things that Australians expect, need and deserve. Because of the strong economy, our government's commitment and relentless hard work are strong, and we've been able to make investments, for example, in the Murray-Darling Medical Schools Network, to improve health outcomes for people across regional Australia. That is an absolutely transformational way of training young people out in the regions. Instead of training in capital cities and dipping out to the regions, these young medical trainees will be embedded in our communities and serving them into the future.

Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.