Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Trade) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to detail some of the serious concerns about the very harsh cuts of the O'Farrell Liberal-National state government when it comes to cuts to health services on the New South Wales North Coast—in particular the recent decision to replace the emergency department's overnight doctor with a video link at Mullumbimby hospital. Locals are quite rightly very concerned and I commend all those doctors, nurses and community members who have spoken out about that very important issue. I share those concerns and I call upon the National Party state member for Ballina, Don Page, to start doing his job and stop this cruel cut to the Mullumbimby hospital. Don Page is not just the local state member but also the Minister for the North Coast, and he needs to tell locals that there will be no video link at all at the emergency department of the hospital. He also needs to rule out a trial. He needs to do this urgently. The community quite rightly is very concerned. The fact is that parents with a very sick child or a relative who has been injured at night need to have the security of knowing that if they rush to the emergency department at Mullumbimby Hospital there will be a doctor there, not a video camera link to another hospital. They need to have the security of knowing there will be a doctor there.

We all know that the O'Farrell government is cutting country health services right across the North Coast. It is a real concern for us on the North Coast of New South Wales. And there is a cloak of secrecy around the decisions being made by the local member, Don Page, and the O'Farrell government. We know that is why they were previously refusing to allow the media and locals into the hospital to see the video link and associated equipment.

On Thursday 26 July I visited the hospital with state Labor MP Walt Secord and saw firsthand the video link equipment to be used in the emergency department. We were invited into the hospital by a very concerned local doctor. I thank her for showing us around the emergency department. While I am a very strong supporter of telehealth, and I understand the great benefits it brings to accessing health services—I think we all acknowledge that—the fact is it cannot replace a doctor in an emergency department in a country hospital. It is an additional medical resource, not a replacement.

Despite the concerns of local doctors, nurses and residents, local member Don Page has been unable to provide guarantees that a trial will not go ahead. He needs to come clean and assure people of the North Coast that this will not go ahead—that the video link will not go ahead in any form at all. To date it appears that Don Page is either unwilling or unable to stand up and fight for the residents of the North Coast. The situation is totally unacceptable and I know that locals will not be silenced on this issue. The O'Farrell government has previously promised to support rural and regional hospitals but all we have seen is broken promises and harsh cuts to local families. In fact, that is all we have seen from the National Party right across the North Coast. Look what happened to Grafton jail; what a shameless display by the National Party. We look to Tweed Heads and Lismore—in all those areas there is a trail of broken promises. The fact is that the National Party cannot stand up and deliver for the people of the North Coast.

A division having been called in the House of Representatives—

Sitting suspended from 09:42 to 10:08