Penny Allman-Payne (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I present the report of the Australian Parliamentary Delegation to Brazil and the United States of America, which took place from 14 to 27 July 2024, and I seek leave to move a motion to take note of the document.

Leave granted.

I move:

That the Senate take note of the document.

This report gives an account of the Senate community affairs committee's parliamentary visit to Brazil and the USA in July 2024. The parliamentary visit aimed to support the committee's ongoing work in the policy areas of health care and affordable housing. On behalf of the delegation, there are a number of people that I wish to thank.

First of all, the delegation developed the program with the assistance of the International and Parliamentary Relations Office, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the staff of the embassy of Australia in Brasilia, the staff of the embassy of Australia in Washington DC and the staff of the Australian Consulate-General in New York. The delegation is greatly appreciative of the work that was undertaken to develop an engaging and pertinent program to support the committee's work in the areas of primary healthcare models, First Nations health, rare cancers research, Lyme disease, menopause and affordable housing.

During the visit to Brazil, the delegation was accompanied by officers from the embassy of Australia in Brasilia, led by Her Excellency Ms Sophie Davies, Australia's Ambassador to Brazil. In the USA, the delegation was accompanied by officers from the embassy of Australia in Washington DC, led by His Excellency the Hon. Dr Kevin Rudd AC, Australia's Ambassador to the United States, and by officers from the Australian Consulate-General in New York, led by Consul-General Ms Heather Ridout AO. The ambassadors, the consul-general and their staff provided comprehensive briefings and logistical assistance throughout the visit. Again, the delegation is greatly appreciative of the effort made to accommodate its needs and ensure a successful visit.

There are some people the delegation would like to thank in particular: Mr Grant Morrison, Deputy Head of Mission and Ms Antonella Zugliani, policy officer, who helped develop the program in Sao Paulo and Brasilia and provided ongoing support. I say a special thanks to Ms Laura McKenna, the visits manager, who was very helpful in finding alternative accommodation for us when the delegation was stranded in Atlanta for three days due to the CrowdStrike outage, and also to the embassy staff in Washington DC, who located our luggage after we were separated from it. I'd also like to thank Mr Chris Munro, the director of public diplomacy and chief of staff to Consul-General Ridout, who developed the visit program for New York and provided visit support, and Mr Cameron Hunter, senior trade research officer, who developed the visit program for Washington DC and provided support during the visit.

I particularly want to thank those people who were part of the delegation—Ms Apolline Kohen, the committee secretary; Senator Pratt; Senator Kovacic; and Senator Askew. I couldn't have picked a better group of people to have travelled with through Brazil and the USA. It was particularly apparent, I think, when we were stuck in Atlanta for three days, where we had some really challenging experiences, and I was very grateful to be travelling with such a wonderful group of people. Maybe it was because we were an all-women delegation—something that surprised some of the people who we were visiting overseas—but it was a great group to travel with, and I want to thank you for the way in which you conducted yourselves on that trip. I really enjoyed your company.

One of the things that really stood out for me on the visit was the health system in Brazil. Brazil has a system where health care is a human right, and it really struck me that, in their attempt over the last 40 years to provide comprehensive, free health care to everyone in their country, they have a system that is working. It's more basic than the one we have here, but everybody in Brazil has access to a primary healthcare centre where they can see a doctor, a nurse practitioner, a dentist, a midwife and allied health professionals. The maximum waiting time—we said to them, 'What's it like on a really busy day?' and they said: 'People could be waiting a really long time. They might be waiting 90 minutes.'

For a country that's only had a universal healthcare system for 40 years, it was impressive. It didn't matter who we spoke to. Whether we spoke to a health worker in a basic healthcare unit, someone in a secondary healthcare centre, the people in the city of Sao Paulo who are responsible for the department of health, or the people in the health ministry, every single person we spoke to understood the mission of that system, which is to provide universal health care to every citizen in Brazil. I think we've got something we can learn from this. They have dental care. We should have dental care in Medicare here, too.

Thank you very much to everyone who was on the delegation.

Louise Pratt (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I also rise briefly to speak to our delegation report. It was a privilege to participate in this delegation. Without wanting to take too much of the chamber's time tonight, I'll commend to it the remarks of the head of the delegation. I also want to add my thanks to Apolline Kohen, who helped and supported us through some arduous moments when our travel was interrupted.

There is no doubt about the value of these kinds of parliamentary delegations. As Senator Allman-Payne highlighted, they give you a chance to reflect on and gain insights into issues in our own jurisdictions and that we confront in Australia. You have a chance to have your eyes opened to how other people manage universal health care, cancer care, dental health, cancer research and how they work with First Nations populations—and a great many other issues. So, if you ever get a chance to go on a committee delegation, colleagues, I would recommend it, and I would also recommend the senators I travelled with as being terrific colleagues to go with. I give my thanks to Senator Kovacic, Senator Askew and Senator Allman-Payne, and may the almighty Atlanta Braves thrive into the future.

Maria Kovacic (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I also rise to speak on the report of the delegation and I associate myself with the comments of both of my colleagues and the wonderful work that we all did, which wouldn't have been possible without Apolline Kohen and the consular teams in both Brazil and the US. Whilst we had some challenging times on the delegation, including being stuck in Atlanta for a number of days, I think we workshopped how an airport should work in a crisis—and, if they need our assistance, we'd be happy to provide that same assistance to them!

I will be very brief in my further comments, which are that the one thing I specifically took away was the absolute desire of every official in every organisation that we met to share their knowledge with us and to find out what they could learn from us. It is an invaluable process. I am very grateful, particularly to the President and to the Senate, for the opportunity.

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

I apologise for not being here for the contributions of my colleagues, but I would like to associate myself with them because I'm sure they were absolutely brilliant.

I want to add my thanks to Apolline Kohen, the committee and the committee secretariat for making that trip such a wonderful trip for us and for ensuring that things ran so smoothly despite the hiccups along the way—especially in Atlanta. I want to thank the President and the Senate for the opportunity given to the community affairs committee. It's a real privilege for us, as committee members, to be given that opportunity. While we were there, we met with so many wonderful organisations, departments, individuals and not-for-profits, and each and every one of them were so welcoming and so giving of their time and their experiences. It was a real opportunity for all of us across a wide range of issues and topics, and it all reflected the work that we're doing back here, in Australia, within our committee.

I'd also like to express my thanks to IPRO—the International Parliamentary Relations Office—and the embassy contacts in Brazil and the United States. They were fantastic and they stepped in when we needed them to help out, especially regard to urgent accommodation and travel. It was a great honour for all of us, I think, to have the opportunity to travel and to represent the Senate on this trip. I thank my four travelling companions—Apolline, in her absence, and the three in the room—and thank everybody for making it such a worthwhile and memorable trip.

Question agreed to.