Perin Davey (NSW, National Party, Shadow Minister for Water) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to talk about regional health. We all know I live regionally; I keep talking about it. I gave birth to my daughters regionally. My family's health is reliant on an effective regional health service. In my state, the New South Wales government have been investing in health infrastructure. They've delivered more than 180 projects. They have 130 projects currently underway, and a newly elected Nationals government will inject $1.2 billion into critical health infrastructure and hospitals, including in my home town of Deniliquin. But all this infrastructure means nothing unless we can staff it.

I commend the current Albanese government for adopting the Nationals policy to waive HECS debts for medical and nursing graduates who commit to working in the regions, and I encourage any students out there to take up the offer and move to the regions. You will stay there, I promise you, because it is such a good place to live. But I deplore this government's decision to change the distribution priority area arrangements, so that now our regional communities are competing against peri-urban areas to try and recruit doctors. This is a move that has been decried by the Rural Doctors Association and makes them 'fearful for rural communities'. Labor are not committed to regional health. At the state level the Labor Party won't commit to matching the regional health funding of the Nationals, and at the federal level they won't commit to addressing our workforce shortages. We need to do better.