Senator MOOREğ (Queensland) (6:44 PM)
I did not intend to be part of this debate, but as I was walking past the chamber I happened to hear the dulcet tones of Senator Macdonald once again claiming that only he has any interest, knowledge or awareness of the issues that impact on people who live outside the urban parts of this country. It is simply not true. That cannot remain on the record without some response. I do not think many people actually claim personal ownership of all knowledge. If they do, they are not effectively representing the needs and aspirations of so many in our community.
The document that is the stimulus for this particular range of comments from Senator Macdonald is the government response to a report by the Senate Standing Committee on Community Affairs. We who are privileged to be on the Community Affairs Committee are very, very fortunate because, no matter where we come from, no matter where we happen to be born, work or live, we have the opportunity to hear from people from across this country who give us the great honour of taking seriously the issues about which we are speaking and come forward to share with us their genuine concerns, issues and aspirations. The true role of a committee is in fact, Mr Acting Deputy President Barnett, as you know, to listen to that knowledge-not to presume that we know or pretend that we have all the knowledge but to listen to the people who come forward.
I happen to come from a rural part of Australia. Many of my relatives still live in the Darling Downs region and in other parts of Queensland. That does not mean that only they know and understand issues that relate to rural Queensland. They know about issues like the need for services. Like all Australians, they expect their government to consider their needs in the development of all plans and in particular the health needs of people like them who live outside urban areas-the subject of this report. They expect their government, in taking forward its plans, to include those needs in its proposals. I am really pleased that our community affairs committee, whose members have a wide range of knowledge and backgrounds, has the ability to do the job that it was told it has responsibility for in the Senate process, which is, as I said, to listen to people, gather the evidence, bring it back and put it forward into policy.
Senator Macdonald was speaking about the young people who live and work in Far North Queensland, which is a remarkably beautiful part of the world, and saying that, since the development of the medical school at James Cook University, many are able to train closer to their homes. But it is not next door. You are once again presuming that you know what people's geographical needs are. Laura is a long way from James Cook University's medical school, with its Townsville, Cairns and other campuses. You cannot just drive round there, the way people can do in the city. Just because you come from a particular area does not mean you can presume to know exactly how close they are to facilities.
I applaud the knowledge and work that Senator Macdonald does in Far North Queensland. He, along with a great number of politicians who represent that area, can bring valuable knowledge to the debate; they do meet people and bring forward that information. But to use a parliamentary debate to claim that only you understand the place that you come from is just wrong. If we all did that we would not be able to move forward at all. A wide range of people came and gave evidence to the community affairs committee inquiry about which we are speaking including professionals, people who had chosen to work in regional areas, people who live there now, people who used to live there a long time ago and also people who just wanted to ask for a genuinely fair go in getting access to medical services.
After we put forward our report, the government came back with a response. Once again, one of the key elements of the government response was cooperation between the state and federal governments, because the whole health situation in this country depends on the effectiveness of that relationship. The provision of medical services in Australia will always depend on effective cooperation between federal and state governments. Our government has now put forward a proposal which is changing that balance-it is out there for public consideration and debate-but it will rely on the sharing of knowledge and experience, and a commitment to change. That sharing will depend on governments at all levels having a role to play and bringing that forward.
We have a proposal which was not a direct result of the community affairs committee report; I could not claim that. However, one of the many pieces of evidence that came to this government about the needs of people across this country is this report-and again I want to thank the people who came forward and gave evidence before the committee. We must share the knowledge. We as a government and as a parliament, all parties, must listen to the demands of the people who are out there and who turn to us for support. The presumption that we personally have all the knowledge will guarantee that it will fail. It will divide people and, once again, we will get into a competitive model that means that no-one wins, that there will not be effective sharing of resources.
Senator Macdonald used the opportunity of talking to this document to have a go at the most recent government proposal to come out. I encourage members of this parliament to look at the proposal that the government has brought forward after a great deal of consultation and involvement with a range of organisations, with state governments and also with the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission, which came forward with its report. All of that indicated that all Australians, no matter where they live, have a right to effective medical services, and that is something to which this government is committed.
I am also aware that people expect their politicians to commit themselves to making sure that this can be achieved, to bring their knowledge to the debate again-not to use the opportunity to again divide us, to once again label people on the basis of where they come from or what work they do or have done. Senator Macdonald and others opposite, I have said many times in this chamber that I did work for a trade union, but I also worked for the Australian Public Service and, at one stage, in the Catholic education area. I found all that extraordinarily valuable in providing me with knowledge and giving me experience that I can bring to this chamber. It does not mean that I am not open to listening to and understanding the views of other people. It does not mean that I will automatically label anyone else in this chamber according to where they came from, what school they went to or what job they did. That is not a successful way to share knowledge and move forward.
The role of our community affairs committee has always been to share and to engage. That will continue to be the way we operate. We want to hear what Australians are prepared to say to us. The report before us gave us immense knowledge about what it was like to live in rural and regional Australia and what the needs were in those communities. We as a committee presented a report, which came before this chamber and then went to the government for consideration. It was a really valuable and in many ways confronting experience for all of us. I think we have all gained from this. I hope that we will continue to do so, and I think that the government's response gives us a way forward into the future, which is what we can expect from the work we do. I seek leave to continue my remarks later.
Thursday, 11 March 2010
