Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The member for Bowman says I am listening to the wrong people. The people I listen to are the constituents in Shortland electorate, the people who have been unable for a very long time to access the health services they want to access, the people who have been unable to visit their local GPs because of the shortage of GPs in the area. And that is a shortage that developed because of the action of the Howard government when they capped the number of training places for GPs, when they reduced the number of doctors that were being trained and when they constantly ignored the pleas of people like me in this parliament who were saying, ‘It’s not good enough that 8,000 constituents whom I represent in this House do not have one doctor.’ Time and time again I raised the issue of the doctor shortage within my electorate, and time and time again it was ignored. It was not one health minister who ignored it but three coalition health ministers who ignored it.

But the Rudd and Gillard governments have recognised the fact that all Australians, not only those living in inner Brisbane, inner Adelaide, inner Sydney or inner Melbourne, deserve to have quality health services. Those were not the only ones who deserved to go and see a doctor; it was all Australians. The reforms that have taken place under the Rudd and Gillard governments have meant that there has been a $64 billion agreement for health and hospital funds and $600 million for an elective surgery waiting list reduction plan. This has already kicked in in my electorate, with Belmont Hospital being earmarked to benefit from that and Belmont Hospital also receiving money for an upgrade of their accident and emergency department so that they can meet the guidelines that have been put in place. That is something that the previous government, the Howard government, chose to ignore. There has been an $872 million investment in preventative health. If you invest in preventative health, you are addressing the issues of health before people develop chronic disease, something that the previous coalition government chose to ignore. There has been investment in the rural and remote workforce as well as investment in the workforce in areas like the area I represent. With more doctors being trained, more nurses being trained and more allied health professionals being trained it really is a win for the Australian people.

We do have an ageing population. Shortland electorate has one of the oldest populations in the country. I stand in this place to argue for equity for the people of Shortland electorate. I have done that over a very long time. The people of Shortland electorate deserve to have quality health and hospital services. The legislation we have before us today and the reform of healthcare funding arrangements are required to deliver this to the people of Shortland and the people of Australia. This will put in place a framework that will ensure that health is adequately funded. That can only be done by putting in place the framework we have before us today to put legs on the National Health and Hospitals Network. This is vitally important legislation, and it will allow the Commonwealth to retain the proportion of GST to bring to fruition the 60 per cent commitment that has been made to the states. (Time expired)

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