MEMBER FOR MALLEE: I move that this House: 

1.      notes that  

a.      rural and remote Australians bear a heavier burden of disease than Australians that live in major metropolita nareas  

b.      the rural, remote and regional health workforce persistently suffers more significant staffing shortages than their metropolitan counterparts; 

c.      the former Coalition Government established the National Rural Health Commissioner in 2017, 

d.      the inaugural Commissioner Professor Paul Worley said in 2018 he had heard the urgency of calls for a National Rural Generalist Pathway for the medical practitioner workforce, and recommended later that year the national recognition, as a protected title, of a Rural Generalist as a Specialised Field within the Specialty of General Practice, which is now federally funded and accredited by the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM), 

e.      the National Rural Health Commissioner has established the National Rural and Remote Nursing Generalist Framework2023-27, after consultation commenced by the former Coalition Government in early 2022; 

f.       Queensland Health began developing arural generalist pathway for allied health professions in 2013 which the Services for Australian Rural and Remote Allied Health (SARRAH) successfully developed further in some jurisdictions but is not yet available for instance in Victoria, and 

2.      calls upon the Minister for Health to advance rural generalist pathways in medicine, nursing and allied health, to address dire workforce shortages in rural, remote and regional Australia;  

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Dr Webster: I move this motion supporting regional health care because there is incredible heartache—or, in departmental speak, unmet need—both within my electorate of Mallee and across rural, regional and remote Australia. A person's postcode should not determine their health status, but it does. As shadow assistant minister for regional health, I have travelled the country to consult with professional organisations, health professionals and community members at the coalface. They have stressed the dire nature of workforce shortages in their local areas. There are currently six general practitioner positions advertised in Mildura, my home city, alone, with several other towns across Mallee also looking for a local doctor. In fact, I am very proud of the fact that my husband has retired after 47 years in general practice just this week, and I will shout out to him what an extraordinary man he is and how proud I am of him. We know that small rural towns—like Dimboola, in my electorate, for example—have on average almost 60 per cent fewer health professionals than major cities.

When one of my constituents needs care for a chronic condition or an ongoing illness, they face waiting lists, travelling considerable distances and additional out-of-pocket costs. Inaccessible health care results in delays to primary care. People present into hospital acutely unwell when it could have been prevented. Ultimately, regional Australians are living with worse health and dying younger than their city counterparts. We can't continue to expect people in rural, regional and remote Australia to put up with second-rate access to health care. It affects their quality of life, their livelihood and their longevity.

During my travels, I have also seen examples of rural communities who are making things work. I visited a single-employer model pilot site at the Riverland regional hospital in Berri last year. They told me they have no doctor shortage in their region thanks to this model. The single-employer model's success in rural and regional Australia builds upon the Nationals' efforts for many years to develop the National Rural Generalist Pathway through the National Rural Health Commissioner. In fact, the first commissioner, Professor Paul Worley, was in that meeting in Berri last year about the single-employer model initiative because he has been working there, ensuring its success, since his term as commissioner ended.

In October, I was delighted to speak at the conference of Services for Australian Rural and Remote Allied Health, SARRAH, in Mildura. The Allied Health Rural Generalist Pathway, developing the skills required to increase rural and remote allied health workforce, has existed in several states and territories since 2014 and in the non-government and private sector since 2019. Disappointingly, it does not exist as yet in the Victorian public sector. Rural generalist pathways warrant further development across the professions.

The current Albanese Labor government has not had the needs of rural, regional and remote Australians front of mind when it comes to health. Implementing policies such as changes to the distribution priority areas, which have resulted in a net flow of international medical graduate doctors away from the regions to periurban settings, has exacerbated workforce shortages. Their signature policy of tripling the bulk-billing incentive payment might have looked good on the surface, but it has not brought more doctors to the regions, nor does it adequately cover the burgeoning costs of running a general practice. The Nationals are working on significant regional health policies to improve the supply of doctors and other health professionals in rural, remote and regional Australia. As shadow assistant minister, I have been developing bold policies to immediately address our dire health workforce shortages and facilitate structural reform to grow our own supply of doctors and other health professionals in the regions into the future. I must name the member for Parkes, Mark Coulton, who gave his valedictory speech today, for the work that he did previously to ensure better health care into the future for regional Australia.

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