Anne Webster (Mallee, National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Regional Development) Share this | Hansard source

The member for Werriwa has moved that the House note that Australia's healthcare system is based on equitable and fair access for all Australians. In comparison with our global counterparts—the US and the UK—this is true, but most particularly in regional Australia there are many who would say it has also deteriorated to the point of crisis. The reality in the bush is higher mortality and morbidity rates than the city.

I stand here in this House of government for all Australians. Every decision made here should be based on the principles of fairness and equity. However, if the healthcare system is based on equitable and fair access then why do those who live in regional centres perpetually have poorer outcomes? What may be true in Western Sydney is not reflected in Mallee or, indeed, most other regional centres. In my maiden speech I said your health status should not depend on your postcode. But it does, and I will continue to state this inequity until there is significant change—not change in rhetoric but change in outcomes. There is cold, hard evidence of the unfairness and inequity Labor are helping to perpetuate—for example, in the expansion of the distribution priority areas. This policy is harming access to doctors in regional centres, making a bad situation worse.

I currently have a survey on my website for people to tell their story about their access to health care in Mallee. Sadly, but not surprisingly, the results are not good. Nearly 2,000 people have written a response. Thirty per cent of respondents say they do not have a regular GP, 40 per cent of respondents have put off seeing a GP because it's too hard to get an appointment and 33 per cent of people have presented to their local hospital because they could not see a GP.

The best health outcomes occur when patients have longstanding relationships with a doctor who can provide ongoing care. As one doctor said to me last week: 'When you have been seeing the same patient for 16 years you know when they walk into the room if something is not right.' Continuity of care is everything in primary care and that is what this government does not understand. When patients have no ongoing GP it puts pressure on already stretched hospital emergency departments.

Where is the fair and equitable access? An 80-year-old cancer patient told me she puts off going to the clinic because of the weeks she has to wait, even though she knows she would be better to have regular check-ups. A young mother told me that since her clinic in Mildura closed she has been forced to send her two young children to two different clinics while she and her husband attend a third, and they still can't get a regular doctor. Many people have said it takes up to eight weeks to get an appointment. These people are not receiving fair and equitable access to health care. Even worse, just last week I spoke with a nurse practitioner in my electorate who provides the only health service in a small town. She has had to dip into her superannuation to manage her operational running costs. That is ridiculous, you might say, but such is her dedication to her local community. The fact is Medicare rebates and funding models must improve for her to be able to continue to offer services in that rural town.

To pretend there is a silver bullet is naive, I know. Thin workforces are just one of the problems facing equitable healthcare delivery in regional areas right across Australia. Decisions made by the Labor government have contributed to inequity and unfairness, however, in rural and remote locations. For example, in July 2022 one of the first decisions made by the new Labor government was, as I mentioned, to expand the distribution priority areas. As a result, international medical graduates have the option to move to an outer urban setting rather than regional areas with the same incentives. The current system cannot provide fair and equitable access to health care without an incentive for doctors to practise in all corners of Australia. We need solutions, and we need them now. We need solutions to doctor shortages and, indeed, all health professional shortages. The regional workforce needs to have its voice heard.

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