Perin Davey (NSW, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Turning from aged care to health care, my question is for the Minister representing the Minister for Regional Health, Regional Communications and Local Government, Senator Cash. Can the minister please update the Senate on how the Liberals and Nationals in government are building our investment in regional and rural Australia through the 2020-21 budget to ensure that our regions have access to the most-effective health care possible?

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Davey for her question and I acknowledge, as all of us on the government side of the chamber do, her commitment to Australians who reside in rural and regional Australia. In particular I acknowledge this Liberal-National government's commitment to improving the health standards of those who reside in rural and regional Australia. In fact, in this year's budget, regional Australians will benefit from improved access to health services, and that's because we have made a $1.2 billion investment to boost health care in the bush. This significant investment of $1.2 billion builds on the reforms that the government has already put in place to expand rural training opportunities and also to address the complex workforce challenges in rural communities.

Our reforms focus on addressing the distribution challenge and we are now investing in new approaches and localised solutions. As a government, we understand that one size does not fit all, in particular when you look at a country that is the size of Australia. In terms of the investment and the policies that we're putting in place, we are very much breaking new ground by investing in unique subregional models of primary care delivery. We are trialling different approaches to address the unique challenges to regional health care. As I've said, these regional models move beyond the one-size-fits-all approach. We're looking at empowering local communities with the tools to integrate the services that they already have, to increase their support in essential services and to find localised solutions. In addition to that, we have a $3.3 million investment that is going to support the delivery of primary care across five subregions in New South Wales, as Senator Davey knows. (Time expired)

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

Senator Davey, a supplementary question?

Perin Davey (NSW, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

To support this initiative, how is the government securing better training for rural GPs, which makes rural health practice more appealing to our regional medical practitioners?

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The government understands that rolling out health policies that are uniform across regional Australia hasn't always worked. When you have a country the size of Australia, one-size-fits-all is not always the way to go, so we, as a government, are looking at drilling down into more innovative and collaborative ways of supporting our regional health workforce. As Senator Davey would know, evidence shows that when students undertake their training in the regions they are more likely to stay in the regions. That's why the funding that we've provided in the 2020-21 budget includes an additional $50.3 million to enhance the rural training pipeline through the longstanding Rural Health Multidisciplinary Training Program. We understand that providing the funding to ensure that we can extend training into smaller rural communities and rural residential aged-care facilities will assist those in rural and regional Australia. (Time expired)

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

Senator Davey, a final supplementary question?

Perin Davey (NSW, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Finally, as we emerge from this pandemic and, thankfully, there hasn't been much of an outbreak in the regions, how is the government continuing to support our regional communities and our regional health systems to remain alert to the risks of COVID-19?

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I think we all acknowledge that we all need to remain alert in relation to COVID-19. Whilst cases in rural and regional Australian communities remain relatively low, it is important that we do remain vigilant while at the same time being ready to respond in the event that there is transmission in any part of our regional communities. Again, the 2020-21 budget continues to fund the government's COVID-19 health response to manage the impact of the pandemic in rural Australia. In terms of some of the policies that we have implemented, we've fast-tracked the expansion of temporary MBS telehealth items, including for rural and remote Australians. Senator Davey would be pleased to know that there have now been over 10 million telehealth services delivered to more than 3.2 million people in regional Australia. (Time expired)