Subjects: Health system; rural health
E&OE..................
Well thank you very much Dr Sharman Stone, the Member for Murray, to Mrs
Anne McCamish, to Professor Alan Gilbert, the Vice Chancellor of the University
of Melbourne, to Mr Paul Griggs, and may I say to you Paul thank you very
much for your words of welcome and I reciprocate by sending my warm respects
and regards to the Yorta Yorta people who you are representing here today
and it is very important the involvement of the indigenous community in
this and indeed in many other community projects and to Professor David
Simmons who is the inaugural overlord, if I can put it at that, of this
venture to which I am turning the first sod today.
This as I have indicated to other audiences over the last few hours is my
first visit to Shepparton as Prime Minister and it is a major regional centre
by any measurement in Australia, not just in Victoria, with a population
in the immediate city vicinity of 30 000 and much larger in the more broadly
defined Goulburn Valley area. It makes a major contribution to the economy
not only of Victoria but through, in particular but not only it's horticultural
industries, a major contribution to the economy of Australia. It is properly
described as something of a food basket for the entire Australian community
and it has a very energetic Parliamentary representative in the person of
Dr Sharman Stone who has been very active in the three and a quarter years
that she has been your member in pushing the particular challenges and the
particular causes of this area.
I think we all know that in Australia at the moment there is a properly
intense debate about the position and future of rural and regional communities
within our national life. I don't think there would be an Australian who
would dispute that part of the history, the essence and the being of the
Australian identity is the contribution that has been made to that identity
by what is variously described as rural Australia, regional Australia or
more affectionately "the bush" and over the years it has made
an enormous contribution to shaping our national identity and it has also
made an enormous and it continues to make a great contribution to the wealth
of our country particularly to our export income.
Earlier this morning I visited the largest pear producer in Australia and
this marvellous enterprise built on the back of a family business is an
example of the expertise and the skill of this district and the importance
of it. But rural communities and regional communities and Shepparton, although
larger than many has not been in anyway exempt or has not escaped the process,
has felt the pressure of the relocation of services, has experienced the
pressure of some services disappearing and has felt the pressure particularly
of declining availability of medical services and it was identified when
we came into Government as being an issue that needed a great deal of attention.
There was a chronic problem and there remains a chronic problem in attracting
enough doctors to rural areas of Australia. There are a variety of reasons
and there are many under this tent who will understand the reasons for that
better than I do but the Government does understand that it is a major challenge
and over the last few years we have set about responding to that challenge
because we believe that the quality of life of people in any part of the
community is based on the ready availability of some basic services, based
on a ready availability of police services, the ready availability of educational
services, the ready availability of medical services and the ready availability
of some, at least recreational services. When one or other of those services
are not available and particularly medical services then people are entitled
to claim that they are not being treated fairly and equally as part of the
Australian community. There are a lot of advantages of living in the bush
or regional Australia over living in the cities but there are also disadvantages
and the role of any Government in a fair way is to try and equalise the
opportunities and equalise the comforts. We are keen to do that in relation
to information technology, we don't want a society where you have technology
haves and have nots and we have had a number of initiatives particularly
out of the proceeds of the sale of the first instalment of Telstra to ensure
that that has happened. In relation to the problem of the shortage of Doctors
we have put a lot of effort into that. We have put extra resources, we have
introduced new schemes which are designed to attract more doctors through
a variety of devises attract more doctors to both go to the bush and to
stay in the bush.
Recently Dr Wooldridge, the Health Minister, himself a medical practitioner
and John Anderson, the newly appointed Deputy Prime Minister and leader
of the Federal Parliamentary National Party went on a tour of rural areas
to listen to the concerns of people and to explain to those people what
the Government was doing in response. In many ways that visit was something
of a watershed in producing both a deeper understanding on the part of the
Government of the feeling of people in rural communities and also on the
part of the rural communities, a deeper understanding on their part that
the Government had indeed over the past few years been doing a number of
quite practical things to try and turn around the drift of doctors away
from rural areas and to try and get more of them back to where they are
so sorely needed and to address in some way in the process the over supply
of doctors in many of the metropolitan areas of Australia by addressing
the under supply of doctors in rural areas.
Now one of the elements of that strategy has been to encourage the establishment
around Australia of centres which focus on rural health and rural health
problems. And the Federal government is providing on a recurrent basis funding
of $1.5 million over five years for this project, and it's also providing
capital support of $2.5 million.
I want to thank the University of Melbourne who's represented here today
by Vice Chancellor Professor Alan Gilbert, as well as the other universities
that are involved, the other Victorian universities that are involved in
the consortium which is associated with the school. What this school will
do will be to address very directly the, I guess, accumulation of deficiencies
and shortages as far as rural health is concerned. Not only the shortage
of doctors but also some of the challenges of which Sharman Stone spoke
in her words of introduction. It is not of course the final total answer
to the problem but it is another element of the integrated response that
is needed. What it does do of course is bring together the contributions
of the Federal government, the State government, the universities of Victoria,
the local communities in every sense of the word. Not only the local medical
fraternity but all others involved as health professionals, the local indigenous
community, it brings together as indicated by this audience today a cross
section of the entire community of Shepparton. And I hope it is seen as
not only a symbol, but also a very practical gesture by all of those who
are concerned about addressing the problems and deficiencies of rural health.
Having said something for a few minutes about problems and deficiencies
in the health area, could I by way of balance and perspective say something
about the pluses of the health system, not only of Victoria but the health
system of Australia. It's very fashionable these days whenever anybody occupying
a political position on either side of politics gets in front of a microphone
to say something critical about the Australian health system. Now I would
be the first to acknowledge as Prime Minister that the Australian health
system does have deficiencies. It has shortages of doctors in some parts
of Australia, it has some deficiencies in public hospitals, it has weaknesses
in many areas. But having acknowledged all of that, I make so bold as to
assert that with all its deficiencies the Australian health system is probably
better than any other in the world.
And I think it's very important that we don't allow the Australian health
system and the esteem the Australian public has for the Australian health
system to be cut down in the cross fire of endless political exchange because
we have without doubt, given the size of our population, made a greater
contribution than virtually any other western nation to medical research.
We have world class doctors, we have world class medical researchers. And
I'm very proud of the fact that in the last budget the government announced
that over the next five years it would double the amount of money going
to health and medical research in this country. And here particularly in
Victoria, Melbourne has an absolutely marvellous reputation for its research
capacity without peer anywhere in Australia, and certainly widely respected
around the world.
I frequently say that it's better if you're a battler to get sick in Broadmeadow
than the Bronx. And the reality is that our health system with all its flaws
and all its deficiencies is an infinitely better system than any on offer.
We have dedicated health professionals, compassionate hard working nurses,
and people generally who work together in a very cooperative fashion. Now
that is not the refrain of the complacent, and it's not a Prime Minister
saying everything in the garden is lovely, because everything in the garden
is not lovely and there is a place for a legitimate ongoing debate about
the status of our health system. We as a government remain committed to
maintaining the Medicare system. That is absolute and unqualified. We believe
that it can be built on. We believe that there is a role for private provision
in health. We believe that the two should complement each other. There are
imbalances and there are always changes and improvements that need to be
made. We've put more resources into private health insurance. We think that's
a positive move and we think over time that will make a contribution. We
have increased resources to the Australian States in relation to their responsibilities.
We don't ourselves see enormous merit in yet another wide ranging national
inquiry. I think the Australian community is a little tired of endless inquiries.
They're more interested in specific actions and specific initiatives such
as the centre for which I'm going to turn the first sod today.
So ladies and gentlemen, in acknowledging that there are a lot of problems,
and I do acknowledge that. And I acknowledge particularly the legitimate
concern, even anger of people in rural and regional Australia about the
inadequacies of some medical services. I want on the other hand to extol
some of the generic strengths of the Australian health system and to support
the magnificent quality of the doctors and the other health professionals
of Australia because they are in my view, without peer anywhere in Australia.
But finally can I again congratulate all of those associated with this project.
Can I thank Professor Alan Gilbert in particular for being here today and
representing the University of Melbourne, and the contribution of the universities
of Victoria to this project. I wish all of those associated with it well.
I agree with Sharman Stone that we should provide inducements for those
who work here not to slip back to Melbourne at the weekend and that is why
it's appropriate that I turn a sod for the accommodation wing so that there'll
be the proper wherewithal to entice them to remain in this beautiful community.
And again can I thank the people of Shepparton for their very warm welcome.
It's a delight to be in the Goulburn Valley, and I know that I should perhaps
have brought some of that Sydney rain with which I am reasonably well familiar.
But I hope that that turns to your advantage before too long and thank you
again for having me with you.
[Ends]