Luke Hartsuyker (Cowper, National Party, Deputy Leader of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Health services are of vital importance to rural communities, and these services are highly valued by those communities. During the 2007 election campaign, the Prime Minister stated ‘the buck stops with me’ on health, and the opposition will certainly be reminding the Prime Minister of his promise to the Australian people in the important area of health services.

At the request of the community, I will deliver to the federal Minister for Health and Ageing a copy of a petition to the New South Wales parliament with regard to Bellingen hospital. The petition was signed by some 3,304 petitioners—no mean feat for a small community. The petition reads as follows: ‘The North Coast Area Health Service is proposing to convert the Bellingen River District Hospital to a multipurpose service. There is strong opposition to the MPS proposal from doctors and members of the community in the Bellingen shire. With an increasing population it is essential that we maintain our existing emergency surgical and obstetric services. Should the MPS be instigated it could mean the loss of these services and even the possibility of the eventual closure of the Bellingen River District Hospital.’

I commend the efforts of the concerned citizens of Bellingen in acting in support of their hospital. On 10 August a highly successful public forum was held. It was attended by some 200 residents, mostly from the Bellingen area. I am pleased to advise the House that the proposal to convert Bellingen hospital to a multipurpose service has been shelved.

The efforts of the concerned citizens of Bellingen highlight the importance that smaller communities place on retaining high-quality health services where people live, not just in the major centres. When you live in a regional or rural area where public transport is very limited it becomes difficult to visit loved ones in a hospital if that hospital is in the neighbouring town. Quite clearly the increasing cost of increasingly complex medical technology means that many services cannot be provided in smaller centres. However, we should strive to provide reasonable levels of service in our smaller hospitals. They need to be more than just medical outposts; they need to be supported, just as they support the community. It is of concern, however, that our smaller communities must be ever vigilant with regard to the possibility that services at their hospital may be downgraded at the whim of some faraway bureaucrat—some faraway, faceless, unaccountable, unelected individual.

It is interesting to note that the occupancy rates at Bellingen hospital have risen by 23 per cent over the last three years and currently stand at an impressive 96 per cent. When you look at the figures, Bellingen hospital is clearly doing the heavy lifting when it comes to the delivery of health services. It is a hospital that should be upgraded, not downgraded. I would particularly like to commend the efforts of Barbara Moore, Jillian White, Jo Erbacher and the rest of the community who put so much time and effort into this important campaign to retain a vital community service.

Sadly, the challenges facing Bellingen hospital are not an isolated occurrence. This Saturday I will attend a rally protesting against the sale of land at Maclean hospital in my electorate—land that may be needed for future expanded services at some stage, that is a public asset and that will be difficult to replace. Maclean is a growing town where land is not plentiful. The action of attempting to sell hospital land begs the question: what plans does the North Coast Area Health Service have for Maclean hospital? Is it destined to face possible downgrading of services at some point in the future? That is a very good question.

At Kempsey, too, we have an example of a local hospital which has seen its services eroded over time. I commend the efforts of the Kempsey hospital action group in supporting their hospital. The community have been making representations to the New South Wales state government seeking the redevelopment of this hospital. To this point, those calls have gone unheeded. That is why I will present a petition to this parliament seeking funding for Kempsey hospital from the national health and hospital fund. The redevelopment of this hospital is long overdue, and the community deserves a hospital which will meet the needs of Kempsey and the Macleay Valley into the future.