Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Ensuring people in regional Australia have the very best access to the very best quality health care continues to be a priority for this government. A great example of this is the funding announcement made last Thursday in my Riverina electorate. A total of $1.87 million has been invested to enable Charles Sturt University to provide intensive, high-quality rural education experiences in Forbes and Parkes in the central west of New South Wales through its Three Rivers Department of Rural Health, a multidisciplinary academic and research unit. Through the additional local training and placement opportunities students across a range of allied health disciplines, including physiotherapy, occupational therapy, social work, exercise physiology, speech pathology and podiatry, will have exposure to the delivery of rural health care for those people in those areas.

Executive Dean of the Faculty of Science at Charles Sturt, Megan Smith, said at the announcement at Parkes: 'It's great to have our doctors. People to go to them to find out what's wrong with them. But if you've broken your leg or you've had a serious accident it's the allied health professional who will get your back on your feet. It's the allied health professional who supports the child with a disability so the family can continue to function. We need the whole health workforce, and our doctors need an allied health workforce as well, because what's the use of a community having a doctor if they don't have a pharmacist?' Good point.

Three Rivers Department of Rural Health Director, Christine Howard, said student presence across these local communities would increase significantly. She said:

This will be a boost to health service provision but will also support the local economy as students spend money in these communities whilst on placement. Additionally, the investment in housing for students also supports local business through property management, security, cleaning, and linen services.

Charles Sturt, in collaboration with the Western NSW Local Health District, the primary health network and local health providers, identified these opportunities to increase student placements. The program of work will also increase the opportunities for local clinicians to become involved in teaching, supervising and mentoring students through rich rural-health experiences. The funding will also be used to purchase a four-bedroom house in Forbes for student accommodation to ensure students have a place to live when they arrive for their placements.

Charles Sturt's vice chancellor, Renee Leon, said:

Students in Charles Sturt University's Three Rivers Department of Rural Health live and study in regional Australia, affording them a unique and clear understanding of the health needs of these communities.

That, coupled with the Murray-Darling Medical Schools Network, which the member for Nicholls—retiring—just mentioned in his speech, is going to make such a difference to my electorate and, indeed, right throughout New South Wales and Victoria. I thank and commend the two regional health ministers—the member for Parkes and now the member for Lyne—for their help in that regard.