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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 12 Hansard (13 November) . . Page.. 3593 ..

MS TUCKER (continuing):

Winnunga Nimmityjah operates as a community-based health service using GPs and other professionals. Winnunga is a vastly successful model. It services an identity-based community rather than a geographical community, but the principle is similar; that is, there is a centre where you can get help.

I want us to remember what we had and to remember that we are not powerless in the face of an irresponsible federal government. The way we organise our health services can make a real difference. Mr Berry said in 1996:

The Melba Health Centre operated for 23 years and its closure will leave a gap in the health facilities in Canberra. The health centre was for years the target of the [Australian Medical Association] and the people will be worse off now that Mrs Carnell has bowed to the pressure.

I want the government to look for creative solutions. I think that salaried medical officers and community health centres are a good model. It would possibly address a lot of health system gaps and meet the Reid criteria, in addition to supporting the continued existence of bulk-billing general practitioners.

As I said, I understand the government will be moving an amendment, which I am happy to support, because it is going to achieve the ends we want to see achieved from this motion. It is important that there be a clear statement from the government about how they are looking after the interests of the community. I am sure people are well aware that if you do not have basic primary and preventative health care available to members of the community they are more likely to become acutely ill and have to use a hospital, making the costs greater.

MR WOOD (Minister for Urban Services, Minister for the Arts and Minister for Disability, Housing and Community Services) (8.51): Mr Speaker, I have circulated an amendment to this motion. Ms Tucker indicates that it is acceptable to her. I move:

Omit all words after "General Practitioners"in paragraph (3) and substitute the following words:

"Calls on the Government to report to the Assembly on what measures it is currently taking, and proposes to take, to ameliorate these problems, including the timeframe for any proposals. The report should include

measures to ensure that every person in the ACT, regardless of income, has adequate access to the services of a General Practitioner, during and after business hours;

mechanisms to encourage and support General Practitioners to provide bulk billing.

The Government should provide this report to the Assembly by the end of the December 2002 sitting of the Assembly.".

Ms Tucker has drawn our attention to the decline in the rates of bulk-billing not only in the ACT but all over the country. It is indeed a tragedy for primary health care that a visit to the GP is unaffordable for many of the most disadvantaged people in our society. Even for those who can afford to pay, often finding a GP is difficult because of the shortage of GPs in the ACT, as in many other places in Australia. We are all well aware of the problems for rural health caused by the shortage of GPs in the bush, but in the

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