Larissa Waters (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister for Finance (Senator Gallagher) to a question without notice I asked today relating to reproductive health care.

My question was: where is the government's response to the recent Senate inquiry into universal access to reproductive health care? That committee report was quite a landmark report in that it was a consensus report of all parties and it made some really strong recommendations. Those consensus recommendations set out a comprehensive plan to improve and deliver universal access to reproductive sexual and maternity health care for everyone. I asked the minister where the response is because the response was technically due three weeks ago. It's been four months since we handed down that report, and the government has delayed the response to that report and we haven't had an explanation of what the hold-up is. I asked the minister what the hold-up is and when we can expect to see it. The response was that the government is working on it. We welcome the fact you're working on it because there is a lot that needs to be worked on, but we are urging you to respond in a timely manner. Australian women just had nine years of feeling neglected by the last government. They want their concerns addressed, and women's health care has long been an under-focused area of policy.

I note last week was Women's Health Week. I was expecting an announcement from the government in the women's health space, and we got crickets instead. Meanwhile, Australians continue to face barriers, whether financial or physical, to accessing reproductive health care, including abortion, contraception, sexual health care and maternity services in Australia. They're all really timely issues, and we know those issues and barriers are more pronounced in rural and regional Australia. The quality of the health care that you receive shouldn't depend on where you live and it certainly shouldn't depend on your credit card balance. We pay taxes so that we can have universal services, and it's crucial that women and people right across the country are able to access the reproductive health care that they deserve when they need it, and locally.

I just want to draw the chamber's attention to a couple of recommendations from that inquiry. Recommendations 32 and 33 of the reproductive healthcare inquiry recommended expanded Medicare rebates for same-sex couples using IVF. I know this is an issue of particular significance to same-sex couples who wish to become parents and who need to rely on a surrogate and IVF. Having this reform, potentially, kicked down the road and put into the 10-year National Action Plan for the Health and Wellbeing of LGBTIQA+ people is not good enough—it really isn't—and that's going to be quite damaging and hurtful to same-sex and gender-diverse families that have already waited far too long to have their healthcare needs considered and catered for. Medicare rebates for IVF need to be offered to everyone. The inquiry was about universal access, and this has to be a priority reform.

The committee also recommended that public hospitals provide surgical abortions or, at the very least, a referral to an affordable local service. That reform would go such a long way to improving access so that people who are seeking a termination don't have to travel hundreds of kilometres or to pay hundreds of dollars to access basic health care. Abortion is basic health care, and that means it should be available where you live, in your vicinity and for no out-of-pocket costs.

The committee also recommended improving access to and affordability of different types of contraceptives, including long-acting reversible contraceptives. These really are time effective, financially efficient and, obviously, a very medically safe way of giving people more control over their reproductive choices.

Another welcome recommendation from the report is support for midwives in birthing. Last week, I met with multiple maternity consumer groups, midwives and midwife groups which want the government to deliver on the Medicare Benefits Scheme Taskforce Review items that would properly recognise the value of midwifery. Those recommendations have been gathering dust for many, many years now, and midwives are pulling their hair out. They're desperate to see some action on that, and we back them on that call. I'm grateful that the minister has informed me that the government is looking at these matters, but there's still quite a long way to go.

I just want to finish by noting that I also asked the minister about how we're going to manage women who are suffering from chronic pain getting access in an affordable way to the multidisciplinary pain management treatment that they need. We're backing Pain Australia's call for 10 subsidised allied healthcare visits for women suffering from chronic pain. I look forward to the government seriously considering funding for that.

Question agreed to.