Wendy Askew (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Around 50 per cent of people living in my home state of Tasmania live outside the metropolitan city. For those who are living in the towns and regions across our state, accessing services in Tasmania's cities can be difficult, especially for those who do not have access to a private vehicle or do not hold a drivers licence. Take the Tasman Peninsula, for example. There is one bus that leaves the peninsula at 6 am and returns at 6 pm from Hobart. Those able to drive have a trip of 1½ hours each way, something which must be factored in when scheduling appointments in town. Obviously, it is a challenge even for the able-bodied, but it is far more difficult if you have cancer or another debilitating chronic illness. Symptoms and side effects can make it difficult, sometimes dangerous or simply impossible, to drive yourself. Friends and family often step in to assist; however, if you don't have those or they are not available, your options are limited.

At a community barbecue on the Tasman Peninsula early this year, a number of people highlighted the hardships they face trying to access patient transport to attend appointments. During the recent Community Affairs References Committee inquiry into rare and less common cancers, these stories were repeated across the country during our committee hearings. And it is even more difficult when there is need for a patient to travel interstate for a treatment. The Community Affairs References Committee made a recommendation in its final report for a review of patient assistance schemes, with a view to creating more consistency in scheme offerings across the states, to providing an increase in financial assistance and to expanding the scheme to include costs for clinical trial patients. These changes would make a world of difference for patients living in regional areas, and I urge the government to work with the state and territory governments to unify and update the patient assisted travel schemes across the country.