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

If you ask anyone about their experiences with health care in this country, no doubt you will hear many horror stories about a system crumbling under the pressure to provide adequate diagnosis and treatment options. There is a sentiment in the community, and it is a sentiment often repeated in this place, that health care in Australia does not meet the standards demanded by our communities for those who both can and can't afford private health insurance.

This is no more prevalent than in my home state of Tasmania, where we lack options for private hospitals and our public system is overburdened with many people struggling to afford the health care they need. While this situation seems dire, there is a glimmer of hope on Tasmania's health horizon, and it comes in the form of a not-for-profit health insurer. I had the opportunity recently to visit the new St Lukes wellness hub in Launceston with my colleague shadow health minister Senator Ruston to meet with St Lukes CEO Paul Lupo.

St Lukes is a Tasmanian company that has provided private health insurance to Tasmanians since 1952. They are locally owned and not-for-profit, meaning everything they do is for their customers. The wellness hubs offer a range of programs and initiatives to inspire fitness and proactive, preventive health, while events run from the centres in Launceston and Hobart five days a week—some examples include yoga, meditation and breath work, children's first aid and circle dancing. St Lukes established the wellness hubs as part of their commitment to their ambition to make Tasmania the healthiest island on the planet, a great ambition.

Preventive health is the most underrated form of health care there is, and, as governments, we tend to focus on diagnosis, treatment and prognosis services. We should, however, acknowledge that prevention is always better than the cure. St Lukes is a health provider that focuses on people, not a policy number, and I was delighted to have the opportunity to show the important work they are doing to Senator Ruston, not because of any request for government support but simply because of their— (Time expired)