Helen Haines (Indi, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

Before becoming an MP, I was a clinical nurse and midwife and an academic researcher in rural health. I've seen up close the problems in developing a strong health workforce and the ramifications when we fall short. Nowhere is this more critical or fatal than in rural, remote and regional Australia. Last week, I spoke at the 150th anniversary of Northeast Health Wangaratta, a health service with a catchment area of 90,000 people. I was proud to be part of this workforce for close to 30 of those 150 years, starting in 1986, when I walked in the door as a midwifery graduate. I walked in for an interview and was hired almost on sight, with only one question: what size uniform do you take? I reckon a similar nurse or midwife could walk in off the street today and be working an afternoon shift that evening—sure, with more regulatory oversight, but our health services need everyone they can get.

Regional Australians have fewer doctors, nurses, dentists, pharmacists, psychologists and other health workers per capita than our city cousins. Our bulk-billing rates are among the lowest in the country. Long waiting lists mean less disease prevention, more chronic disease, longer times to diagnosis and more avoidable complications. It's expensive to see a specialist in Melbourne or Sydney—out of reach for many people who are struggling to pay their rent or their electricity bill.

Hospitals must rely on locums, meaning they're spending millions of dollars on commercial accommodation instead of clinical care. Workforce shortages lead to poor health outcomes. Taking the Albury Wodonga Health catchment area for an example, our life expectancy is one year lower than the average. We have higher rates of asthma, arthritis, obesity and cancer, and the mental health statistics are truly devastating. Our mental health rates are 38 per cent higher than the national average, and, tragically, we have a higher suicide prevalence, with 16.7 suicides per 100,000 people. Cardiac arrest rates in the Hume region are the second highest in the state.

When we don't have enough health workers, it's a local doctors, nurses and allied health professionals who suffer too, and we can't afford to lose any more of them to burnout simply because they're shouldering a load that should be shared, but there's no-one there. We need urgent change. We need a long-term and sustainable solution. We've got to focus on nurturing the talent we have locally. Our young people have enormous potential, but we often lose them to universities and hospitals in the cities because we don't have enough opportunities here in our region for their education and training in health careers.

My electorate is famous for its innovation, and we have some solutions to grow our own homegrown health workforce. The Murray-Darling Medical School is one success story, and it could accommodate double the students it's currently funded for. The Collaborative Centre for Contemporary Education and Research proposal evolved during consultations on the Albury-Wodonga Regional Deal, which is another one. This centre proposes a purpose-built facility which will co-locate multidisciplinary clinical practice education and training. It will provide health undergraduate and postgraduate student facilities for three major entities that train health workers on the border: the Australian Defence Force and the tertiary sector, which includes La Trobe University, Charles Sturt University, the University of New South Wales, Wodonga and Albury TAFEs and Albury-Wodonga Heath. The centre's research will drive data-driven informed service planning and provision, which is difficult to do in regional Australia, and it will coordinate placements, deepen the workforce pool through increased student exposure to our region and encourage education and training organisations to invest in our region

Before becoming an MP, I spent a decade researching the best ways to grow and retain a strong regional health workforce. I was deeply involved in the University of Melbourne School of Rural Health, which also pioneered this integrated form of becoming a centre of multidisciplinary education and research. I know that this proposal for the border will work, and this is where the Commonwealth government can step in. I've already taken this to the Treasurer. The Minister of Health and Aged Care and the Assistant Minister for Regional and Rural Health are on notice—glad to see you here—that I'll be coming to you too. This is what I'll be saying: 'We don't just need you to help us build a hospital. Help us build a rural health workforce by funding this centre. If you care about addressing the health workforce shortage and you believe the best way to grow our rural health workforce is to invest in locals then the only conclusion you can come to is to give us the tools to educate, train and retain our own at home.'

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