Sam McMahon (NT, Country Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Regional Health, Regional Communications and Local Government, Senator Cash. Can the minister update the Senate on how the coalition government is helping Australians living in rural and regional communities by creating additional training places for more rural generalist doctors?

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator McMahon for what is an incredibly important question. I also acknowledge the great work that she has done over a very long period of time in ensuring that rural and regional Australians get the services that they need.

The Morrison government is committed to continually improving rural and regional health services. This is because we recognise regional, rural and remote Australians deserve the same access to high-quality health services as those who live in our cities. Research shows that doctors who train in the bush are more likely to stay and work in the bush at the completion of their training. That is why as a government we're focused on addressing the maldistribution of doctors in the bush. Earlier this month the government announced the allocation of 100 additional training places to the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine to train more rural generalists.

Louise Pratt (WA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Manufacturing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Oh, come on.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order, Senator Pratt.

Louise Pratt (WA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Manufacturing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You've just cut the rebate for recruiting doctors—

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Pratt, take a breath.

Louise Pratt (WA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Manufacturing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

and you've just cut—

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! I'm getting sick of people not even taking note of me calling them to be silent for 10 seconds. Senator Cash, continue.

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As I said, rural generalists play a key role in enabling rural and remote Australians to access health services. Why? Because they provide the general practice, emergency care and other specialist services in hospitals and communities. This announcement yet again demonstrates the Australian government's commitment to supporting more regional doctor training, to supporting better care yet again and to delivering better healthcare outcomes for rural, regional and remote communities. We also need to ensure though that we actually address the pipeline of rural generalists who are coming through to support a viable and sustainable workforce. We're also doing that as part of our half a billion dollar Stronger Rural Health Strategy.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator McMahon, a supplementary question?

Sam McMahon (NT, Country Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Minister Cash, what additional incentives has the government put in place to attract and retain rural health professionals?

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We're also investing to enable medical professionals to train in regional areas. This is by expanding the existing junior doctor training program. We're now including rural interns and doctors in their second year of postgraduate training. Senator McMahon, by the end of this year, the rural doctor training innovation fund will have funded almost 600 rotations in rural primary care settings. The government has announced that 100 new rotations will be allocated to second-year post-graduate doctors across Australia, and this is at a total investment of $3.2 million. These are separate to the rotations that will be rolled out as part of the National Rural Generalist Pathway and are in addition to the $20.6 million we've invested for rural based interns to rotate through a primary care setting.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator McMahon, a final supplementary question.

Sam McMahon (NT, Country Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Minister, why is it important to maintain a consistent policy approach to supporting our regional communities, and what are the consequences of other approaches?

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Everything I have outlined—the investment that the government is making to ensure that rural, regional and remote Australians have the same level of health care as those of us who are able to live in metropolitan centres—is only because we manage a strong economy. It is only because we understand fiscal responsibility. If you look at what occurred when those opposite, the Labor Party, were last in government as we saw, as a direct consequence of their failure to manage the budget, there was a direct impact on Australia's health system. This impact directly affects Australians. What Labor did was they actually stopped listing life-saving drugs on the PBS. Why? Because they ran out of money. The coalition government, the Morrison government, understand the benefits of a strong economy and being able to invest in rural, regional and remote health.

Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.