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Other Parliamentary SpeechesThis page is dedicated to Peter's speeches during parliament that do not fall under Questions or Questions without notice. They range from debating legislation, reporting on events or issues in his seat of Southport and his Ministerial Statements.
Health Services; Gold Coast |
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| Posted by Administrator (admin) on Oct 05 2004 |
| Other Speeches >> |
Mr LAWLOR (Southport-ALP) (12.25 p.m.): Health services have recently been in the spotlight nationally as a result of the federal election campaign and also locally on the Gold Coast as a result of a series of articles in the Gold Coast Bulletin. The Liberal Party has jumped on the bandwagon, because it is always struggling for relevance. It criticises us for not speaking on motions moved in this place. Of course when it moves a motion, there are only five of them so they all get a speaking spot.
Unfortunately-well, it is a fortunate situation really-we have 63 members to choose from. There is no more important issue than health and associated issues such as Medicare and bulk-billing. I do not consider that the Bulletin is scaremongering as suggested by the Liberal Party. It suggested that we said it was scaremongering. That is incorrect. Indeed, I believe it has a right and in fact a responsibility to report issues concerning the health system on the Gold Coast. However, that does not mean that journalists are always correct either, any more than politicians are. Journalism and politics are a fairly inexact science. Solutions are never simple or cheap.
I want to draw the House's attention to some issues confronting our health services and put some of the problems of the Gold Coast health service in perspective and also to document some of the advances made in the short time that the Gold Coast and Southport in particular have had Labor representation. Several months ago I spoke to a gentleman who rang my electorate office complaining that he had waited for seven and a half hours for treatment in the A&E section of the Gold Coast Hospital. I said that this was not acceptable but that there are sometimes extenuating circumstances and I would make inquiries as to why there was such a delay. Every government member down there virtually has a hotline to the hospital, so I was going to contact the hospital. But almost as an afterthought I asked what his injury was. He said that he did not have an injury; he had a rash. I asked why he would be in the A&E section when the complaint was not urgent or life threatening. He said that he could not afford to go to a GP. This ties in with the phone survey which I conducted some months ago of GPs in Southport, Labrador, Parkwood and Arundel. Of the 18 GPs surveyed, only three fully bulkbilled.
For this poor gentleman with the rash, it was like searching for a needle in a haystack and he thought that his only option was the Southport Hospital. This contributes to the overcrowding in the hospital, especially in the emergency section.
The only way to improve this situation is to vote for Mark Latham on Saturday. He is the only person committed to preserving and indeed strengthening Medicare. Bulk-billing rates in the seat of Moncrieff have fallen by 13.5 per cent and are still heading south! Of course, we should not be surprised that some years ago John Howard told Sydney radio listeners, 'We will be proposing changes to Medicare which amount to its de facto dismantling. We'll pull it right apart.' On bulk-billing he said, 'The second thing we'll do is get rid of the bulk-billing system. It's an absolute rort.' Well, he is certainly well on his way to achieving his objective and if re-elected on Saturday he will finish off our universal health care system and we will move into an era of survival of the fittest and the well off.
Since coming to office, the Beattie government has delivered successive record Health budgets.The current budget is $5.13 billion, up almost $2.5 billion since 1997-98. The Beattie government is committed to increasing the annual budget by a further $1 billion over the next four years, and the Gold Coast health service budget is well over $200 million. It is still not enough as the Bulletin correctly, by inference, points out. But it would be churlish to ignore the advances made since 2001. We have completed the $55 million redevelopment of the hospital, including the $20 million rehab, endoscopy and orthopaedic outpatient section. There has been $3.1 million for an MRI machine and $1.4 million for refurbishment of the acute mental health unit at the Gold Coast Hospital. We have purchased the Robina Hospital to add to the range of public health services. In that regard, we have committed $9.5 million to a new emergency and intensive care section in that hospital to take pressure off the Gold Coast Hospital.
Over $6.5 million has been allocated for health technology replacement and $500,000 extra for ophthalmology services, which provides for an extra 200 operations. There is $7 million for a cardiac catheter centre and $6.3 million for eight new chairs in the renal unit. So the members on the Gold Coast are achieving quite a deal.
But the hospital is not just about infrastructure and equipment; it is about people-doctors, nurses and support staff. This is another problem. Highly skilled health professionals are in great demand and short supply. Last year, 5,000 young Australians qualified to study medicine, but there were only 1,500 places available in our universities. Three thousand five hundred young people missed out and yet at the same time in Queensland alone we employed 1,200 overseas trained doctors to meet the needs of patients around the state. The Howard government's solution is to commit to 246 extra places for 2004-05, which is only a drop in the ocean. This is expected to increase further when students graduate. They will make up some of those places, but we are essentially playing catch-up football.
Time expired.
Last changed: [PUBLISHED_DATE] at 12:00 AM
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