Catryna Bilyk (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

  (i) Palliative Care Tasmania's (PCT) three-year $1 million funding agreement expires on 30 June 2020, and

  (ii) most state and territory palliative care peak bodies receive recurrent government funding;

(b) recognises that:

  (i) PCT provides valuable services to the palliative care sector and the broader community, including advocacy, policy advice, and community education and professional development delivered to over

4,000 Tasmanians a year,

  (ii) these services:

(A) help educate Tasmanians on the importance of advance care planning, writing advance care directives and discussing future care wishes with family and close friends,

(B) lead to millions of dollars of savings in residential aged care and acute health care–conservatively, cost savings of $30 million a year are made through their work in residential aged care and cost savings of $25 million a year are made based on 10% of participants in their education programs understanding advance care planning and completing an advance care directive, and

(C) provide Tasmanians with life-limiting illness greater choice, control, comfort and dignity in their care, and help to ensure that thousands of Tasmanians can have a good death; and

  (iii) should PCT not receive further funding, their services would either have to be provided directly by the Tasmanian Government at much greater cost or would be lost to the palliative care sector; and

(c) calls on the Tasmanian and Australian Governments to work together to come up with a plan to fund PCT which provides PCT with adequate funding and certainty to continue its core activities beyond 30 June 2020.

Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Forestry and Fisheries) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a short statement.

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

Leave is granted for one minute.

Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Forestry and Fisheries) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Australian government recognises that quality, accessible palliative care is a crucial component of the health system. The Commonwealth government is responsible for national leadership and strategy in the palliative care system and has provided $6 million over three years from 2017-18 to 2019-20 to the national peak body, Palliative Care Australia. State and territory governments are responsible for the funding and delivery of palliative care services as part of their hospital in-community service provision responsibilities. The ongoing funding for the Tasmanian state palliative peak body is, therefore, entirely a matter for the Tasmanian government.

Question agreed to.