THE Mallee’s health crisis has been raised in the Senate, where the Opposition has accused the new Labor government of favouring capital city suburbs over the regions in its plan to move GPs to the areas they are most needed.
The Government has expanded its “distribution priority areas”, which are parts of Australia identified as in need of more doctors, to include outer suburban areas such as Elizabeth in Adelaide and Parramatta in Sydney, but the Opposition says government incentives to draw doctors to these areas will discourage them taking up similar opportunities in the country.
Liberal Senator and Opposition frontbencher Anne Ruston used parliamentary Question Time on Wednesday to quiz Labor Finance Minister Katy Gallagher on the move, asking why this decision had been made and stating that it “means that towns like Mildura are now competing with the suburbs of Melbourne for overseas doctors”.
Senator Gallagher said she had not been fully briefed on the Mildura situation, but that “I think (Senator Ruston) is criticising us for extending an incentives program to attract doctors to areas where there are workforce shortages”.
“There are workforce shortages in suburbs,” she said.
“We have deliberately not changed the regional incentive payments that doctors receive for working in remote Australia so that we don’t detract from there, but we do acknowledge there are shortages elsewhere.”
Meanwhile, the lower-house Member for Mallee, Anne Webster, has met Labor Health Minister Mark Butler to discuss the Mildura situation and has been assured that he will look into it.
Dr Webster said she was also appalled by the government’s DPA expansion to some suburban areas in the wake of the closure of bulk-billing GP practice Tristar.
“With closed books at almost every clinic in Sunraysia, our shortage is untenable,” Dr Webster said.
“It is appalling that, in this time, the new government has taken to bleeding our already meagre resources to urban settings like Elizabeth, Frankston or Paramatta, through the expansion of the DPA.”
Dr Webster accused the Government of being more concerned about “keeping suburban seats happy”, than addressing the primary health care crisis in regional Australia.
“The minister has said that they are committed to getting more doctors into primary care. However, based on her comments, it is clear that this commitment does not extend beyond the boundaries of capital cities,” she said.
On her meeting with Health Minister Mr Butler, Dr Webster said she had raised several urgent matters with him.
“I spoke with the minister about the crisis Mildura patients are experiencing in the shortage of GPs and the risks to locals’ health,” she said.
She had also discussed “the urgent need” for the LaTrobe and Monash medical undergraduate and post graduate partnership to sustainably deliver doctors to Mildura.
“The minister stated he would follow up my letter to the Minister of Education regarding the LaTrobe project, and stated he would look into the situation Mildura patients are experiencing,” she said.
