John Williams (NSW, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I will only take a few minutes to say that we support Senator Cormann in his actions today on the Health Insurance Amendment (Revival of Table Items) Bill 2009. As Senator Siewert just said, this is the only action we can take on this issue. I just want to bring to the Senate’s attention the situation in the regional area where I live. We have an ophthalmologist from Armidale who comes to Inverell one day a month. He has to pay two staff and he has to rent the hospital facilities. It costs him a lot of money for his travel—an hour-and-a-half drive there and an hour-and-a-half drive back, plus paying those staff. To halve the rebate would put Dr Mark Morgan in a situation where he would have to reconsider whether he actually travels to our regional area to carry out that cataract surgery.

This is typical in regional Australia. This is a dollar-saving issue by the Minister for Health and Ageing from the May budget that is going to have very negative ramifications in regional areas. That is why we strongly support Senator Cormann and what we have done today. Some might not like the way it has been approached but, as Senator Siewert said, it is the only option we have to get a message back to the government that we will not tolerate this situation. Our elderly and those in Indigenous communities at high risk of cataracts need attention and services, and we should have those services in regional areas, not just in the cities. That is why we strongly support the action being taken here today.