Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I wish to raise three grievances on behalf of my constituents on the Mornington Peninsula and around Western Port and the Bass Coast. The first grievance relates to shameful neglect on the part of the state government of Victoria where Rosebud Hospital is forcing new mothers and their babies out of its facility just four hours after the birth. Peninsula Health does a tremendous job and its different arms serve the community exceptionally well, but the red flag has been flying for a long while warning that the maternity unit at Rosebud Hospital is in desperate need of doctors. Despite that, the state government and the state minister have failed to deliver. The result is that Peninsula Health has been forced to close its obstetrics practice while maintaining a baby and mother unit at Rosebud Hospital. That means mothers on the southern peninsula will have to transfer to Frankston Hospital if they wish to be treated in a public hospital. They will give birth there and, as a result of the closure, will then be transferred from Rosebud Hospital by private car or possibly ambulance within four to six hours of having given birth. I repeat: within four to six hours of having given birth, new mothers and their newborns will be transferred from one hospital to another, potentially by private car.

That is what is happening to health on the Mornington Peninsula right now. This is not a surprise. It was foreseen, but nothing was done. The result is that Peninsula Health was wedged by its own government and given no choice. The position is very clear: I call on the Premier and the state Minister for Health, Bronwyn Pike, to redress this situation immediately, to provide the necessary resources so that the obstetrics unit and practice at Rosebud Hospital can be maintained beyond 16 April and to heed the words of mothers such as Sally Anne Gertz, who has given birth to three children at Rosebud Hospital and who is pregnant with a fourth child. She would very much like to give birth to that child at Rosebud Hospital. She has warned that mothers who are bundled into a car four or six hours after giving birth may decide that the trauma is such that they simply want to get home. That presents a real health risk to mother and newborn beyond the inconvenience and frustration for residents of the southern peninsula. This is a real issue that affects numerous families and it is likely to have real and significant consequences if it is not addressed.

The front of the latest Mornington Peninsula Leader carries the headline ‘Babies out in four hours’. That is not an acceptable standard today anywhere in Australia. The state government should rethink its practice, its decision and its failure to adequately resource a wonderful local hospital. It should do so immediately so that these services are maintained after 16 April and mothers and babies can be treated properly at Rosebud Hospital on the Mornington Peninsula.

The second item I want to raise about health and medical treatment on the Mornington Peninsula relates not only to that area but also to the rest of Victoria. I refer to capital support for families caring for adult offspring suffering from spasticity. Last Friday my wife, Paula, and I had the great privilege of receiving debutantes from Disabilities Opportunities Victoria. The debutantes have significant mental physical disabilities—including Down syndrome, spasticity and other conditions. It was perhaps one of the most enjoyable and certainly most moving events I have been associated with in my time as a member of parliament. It was a debutante ball for people who are often on the fringes of society. They were the focus of the 300 people who attended the function. They were dressed beautifully and were proud of who they are and what they have been taught. In the midst of this celebration, it was made clear to me that the executive of Disabilities Opportunities Victoria, which operates in Rosebud and which works on a non-profit basis for the community, was dumbfounded that it had virtually no access to capital to upgrade buildings that are 20 years old, if not more.

Despite this being a core state responsibility, they had no access to any real additional funds. I know from talking with others that this is a real problem not just for this one group but throughout the state of Victoria. The people who suffer are those who have real and significant needs. Those adults with significant mental disability and physical challenges are the people who suffer from precisely this lack of funding. I respectfully but adamantly call on the Premier to reverse this practice of starving organisations that deal with adults with mental disability or extreme physical disability of vitally needed capital. They are volunteer organisations or ones that work on a not-for-profit basis. They are absolutely the foundation stone of our community. The 300 people who were at the debutante ball for Disability Opportunities Victoria last Friday recognise that. They know that something more is needed for these people who in many cases are in great need.

This brings me to the third area of concern that I have, which is in relation to our farmers and rural folk on the Mornington Peninsula, around Westernport and in Bass Coast. For many months now, I, along with Russell Broadbent and other members in this House, have been pushing the Victorian government to apply for Commonwealth exceptional circumstances funding for rural communities. The irony here is that we have spent months pushing for the state government of Victoria to seek Commonwealth funding. Because there is a dual-funding mechanism involved here, it is a dual key solution. The state makes a preliminary decision and the Commonwealth approves it.

What we saw was a period of enormous delay. Over months, Russell Broadbent and I have been contacted by farmers—such as Stewart Winchester from Anderson in my electorate of Flinders—from Phillip Island, Bass, Woolamai, Lang Lang, Yannathan and so many other small towns. All of them had been told by the state that the state was not in a position to apply. But there was no barrier to the pursuit of funding for exceptional circumstances at Commonwealth level. What did we see? We had to wage a campaign at the local level to force the state to apply for exceptional circumstances funding for farmers on the Mornington Peninsula in the southern regions of the City of Casey, the Shire of Cardinia, the Shire of Bass Coast and the Shire of South Gippsland. It was a bizarre situation in which the state was avoiding seeking Commonwealth funding because it would have triggered a potential liability for itself.

The result is that, after many months of pressure, they finally applied and Minister McGauran turned it around within two weeks. The minister for agriculture turned it around immediately and announced last Friday that there would be funding for these areas within Victoria. All of Victoria is now drought declared. Unfortunately, he was not able to do this earlier because the trigger which was necessary had not been pulled by the state. Now we have done that. For some of our farmers, it will be too late. For many of them, I hope that we are able to help with assistance payments and with access to a range of different benefits. But I say to the Victorian government: please, never again delay when our farmers’ livelihoods are on the line. (Time expired)