Tony Zappia (Makin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I welcome the opportunity to speak, albeit very briefly, on this matter relating to overseas trained doctors. Can I say from the outset I very much understand and accept the very genuine concerns being put to this House by members opposite. There is no question at all that when one needs the service of a doctor or a medical practitioner of some kind it is of the utmost priority. The last thing that any of us would want is for a medical person not to be available when one is needed. But can I say that their concerns are not confined purely and simply to country Australia.

As a member representing metropolitan Adelaide, I can assure members opposite that there are also concerns about the lack of doctors within metropolitan areas. In recent months I have been caught in the midst of a political bunfight as to whether some local doctors should be allowed to recruit from overseas. I understand that, whether you are in the country or in metropolitan parts of Australia, in urban areas, the need for access to a doctor is of the highest priority. Having said that, I am not going to engage in a vilification exercise of doctors and the system that we currently have in place, albeit that I have my own concerns about it. I do not only have concerns about the registration process for doctors. In fact, on Friday this week I will be going back to my electorate to meet with nurses who are going through similar problems and who would also like to see the process changed. Perhaps that process needs to be changed. In saying that, however, I believe the member for Blair quite properly articulated the process that this government has followed and is following at the moment in order to ensure that ultimately we do have the best processes in place.

I also say to members opposite that the problems that they are referring to did not arise in the last year or two. They have been evident since I was elected to parliament three years ago. I say to them: if these concerns are real—and I accept they are—rather than blaming the current minister and this government, why were steps not put in place to make the necessary changes that they are now calling on this government to do and why did they not, as the member for Shortland quite properly pointed out, allocate and fund more places in our universities to ensure that we would have more graduates from within Australia in the system to fill the shortages that were emerging? One of the genuine concerns I have about recruiting from overseas is that we recruit from countries that have a greater number of patients to the number of doctors than we have in Australia. What we are really doing is taking medical people from countries in much greater need than us. I believe our first priority ought to be to ensure that we provide places within our universities and ensure that we encourage our own students to go through the process of becoming medical professionals.

I refer briefly to the motion. It talks about ‘an inquiry into the role of Australia’s medical and surgical colleges in the registration process’. It does not state who is going to conduct the inquiry, how it is going to be comprised or the particular guidelines or criteria for the inquiry. Whilst it is generally something that this House might have some sympathy for, I would suggest to the member for Maranoa that he needs to be a little bit more specific if he wants this House to support his motion in respect of establishing an inquiry. An inquiry is something that I would take very seriously because the inquiry would result in recommendations and there would be nothing short of criticism by the community if those recommendations were not implemented. I also refer to part (2) of the motion which talks about the 457 visa. I reiterate something that the member for Blair said earlier: a working visa is only granted after registration is given to a doctor. It is not the case that a 457 visa will be revoked if a doctor fails his or her pre-employment interview. Again, the motion is not correct in terms of what it is asking this House to do. I suggest to the member for Maranoa that he ought to rethink the way he wants this House to deal with the motion and resubmit it if he wants us to take it seriously.

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