Nicola Roxon (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Health and Ageing) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I do not need to just tell the member for Bowman what it is that we will do; I can tell the member for Bowman what it is that we have done. On Thursday at the meeting of health ministers, for an item that I took that needed the approval of every state and territory health minister and got that approval, we have agreed across jurisdictions to provide some additional resources—not additional money but some additional people—to make sure that phone calls are being answered even more quickly during this transition time; to make sure that some additional IT expertise is being provided at this transition time; to make sure that there is good follow-up and call-back, whether it is a nurse, a doctor or an allied health professional who needs extra information; and to make sure that more of that can be done online. Those opposite never took the initiative to make sure that people could move between jurisdictions, and we are allowing that.

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