Daryl Melham (Banks, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last Thursday, 17 May 2012, the Minister for Health, the honourable Tanya Plibersek MP, visited my seat of Banks. Specifically, the minister was there to visit the Hurstville Adult Dental Clinic and to hold discussions with representatives from the South Eastern Sydney and Illawarra Area Health Service. The visit followed the government's budget announcement that $515.3 million would be spent over the next four years for dental health reforms. The majority of this funding will be directed at treating patients on public waiting lists.

The Hurstville Adult Dental Clinic currently has two chairs which are used for up to 18 patients a day. While we were there a local mum and her family waited as one of her children received a thorough dental check. He did not seem too concerned about it, and we saw him emerge later, unscathed and with his blue toothbrush. Not far from the dental clinic is Hurstville Public School—which, coincidentally, I had visited earlier in the day—where another dental chair is available for eligible children to visit a dentist. Approximately 47 per cent of the New South Wales population is eligible for public oral health services. Sadly, many of these people wait for years, in some cases, for treatment. It is estimated that New South Wales will receive in the order of $110.8 million over three years to begin the process of reducing the dental waiting lists.

At the Hurstville dental clinic, the Director of Oral Health at South Eastern Sydney Illawarra Health, Dr Meredith, showed us around the two surgeries, and we met one of the oral hygienists. He explained that the surgery will be expanding by two chairs following building work. Mr Terry Clout, the Chief Executive Officer of South Eastern Sydney Illawarra Health for New South Wales, spent time with me and the minister discussing public health issues. What struck me most about both Mr Clout and Dr Meredith was their obvious dedication and commitment to public health care. Mr Clout talked about his experiences working in regional and rural New South Wales in New England and the Hunter, as well as in the mid-North Coast. They are both committed to reducing health disadvantage, especially in the regions where getting dental health care is not always as straightforward as it tends to be in the suburbs.

The government's funding will provide the foundation of the provision of dental services that will ensure that those most in need will get care when they most need it. Another government initiative is the allocation of $450,000 to non-government organisations to coordinate the provision of pro bono dental health services for those in greatest need. The government will increase the Voluntary Dental Graduate Year Program from 50 to 100 placements per year by 2016.

An important part of the government's funding, and well understood by Dr Meredith and Mr Clout, is the allocation of $77.7 million over four years to rural, regional and remote areas. The purpose of this funding is to encourage and assist dentists to relocate to areas of need. Relocation grants will be available to dentists to assist in moving costs and grants for the purchase and fit-out of dental facilities. Overall, I am very impressed with the quality of care provided by the Hurstville Adult Dental Clinic, and with the dedication of those who represent it.

The federal parliament has a moral and legal obligation to involve itself in the dental care of our nation. It is one of only eight referendums since federation that have passed. We have a mandate from the people as a federal government to involve ourselves in dental care. The people gave us that mandate. So the notion from those on the other side that this is an area that should be left to the states is bunkum. When you have a referendum, when you have a change to our Constitution that is so rare, you grab it. It is like the Aboriginal referendum, which the national government has used to assist Indigenous people in this country, to protect them from the states at times when the states were abandoning them and discriminating against them.

So I was very impressed with my visit with the minister to the Hurstville Adult Dental Clinic, and with the professionalism, the dedication and the passion of those professionals involved. I look forward to more public money flowing over the years to this area.