Mr WOOD - 2013-10-16
I have been informed that the government is retrenching Aboriginal Health Workers. In fact, 143 is the number mentioned. Could you say if this is correct and, if so, how many people are being retrenched? What is the government’s intention regarding the Aboriginal Health Worker program, and what communities will be affected?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Nelson for his question. I can confirm we are not retrenching any Aboriginal Health Workers or Aboriginal Health Practitioners in the Northern Territory. I am quite mystified how this information has come to the member for Nelson. There are some changes happening within the health system ...
Members interjecting.
Mrs LAMBLEY: People are interested in health, but clearly the people on the other side of the Chamber are not interested in anything to do with health, otherwise they would listen to what I am saying.
We are about to roll out a new services framework for health. That will involve many changes in how we go about providing health throughout the Northern Territory.
There will be a Top End Health Service and a Central Australian Health Service. There is some anxiety within the health system around changes associated with the implementation of that new health services framework. However, we are not going to be axing Aboriginal Health Worker positions.
I checked the facts fairly recently, because, having worked in the health system on and off for the last 20 years, I was astounded at how few Aboriginal Health Workers were on the ground under Labor, particularly in remote areas. I dragged up some figures recently. There has been a 20% drop in the number of Aboriginal Health Workers - now they are called Aboriginal Health Practitioners - employed in the Department of Health over the last 10 years.
What have these people been doing over the other side of the Chamber? Labor has, somehow, allowed the Aboriginal Health Worker system to disintegrate. Why were they not attracting people to these positions? The positions still exist. They have not been taken away. They are not being axed, as the member for Nelson questioned. Those positions are still there, but we cannot fill them. That is the legacy we inherited from the former Labor government. Why did they take their eye off the ball when it came to Aboriginal Health Workers? Why did they allow this important, critical part of the health workforce to disintegrate?
The answer to that is they had obviously taken their eye off the ball and not followed what was happening with these workers in encouraging the continuing education of Aboriginal people, allowing those gateways and pathways into Aboriginal Health Worker positions or professions ...
Ms Walker: Absolute rubbish! Have you ever stayed in VIQs on community? Stay overnight with Aboriginal Health Workers, people from Batchelor who train them. You would not know.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mrs LAMBLEY: I cannot bear the interjections from the other side of the room; they are completely hypocritical and do not achieve anything. The bottom line is we are going to correct the situation.
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, your time has expired.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Nelson for his question. I can confirm we are not retrenching any Aboriginal Health Workers or Aboriginal Health Practitioners in the Northern Territory. I am quite mystified how this information has come to the member for Nelson. There are some changes happening within the health system ...
Members interjecting.
Mrs LAMBLEY: People are interested in health, but clearly the people on the other side of the Chamber are not interested in anything to do with health, otherwise they would listen to what I am saying.
We are about to roll out a new services framework for health. That will involve many changes in how we go about providing health throughout the Northern Territory.
There will be a Top End Health Service and a Central Australian Health Service. There is some anxiety within the health system around changes associated with the implementation of that new health services framework. However, we are not going to be axing Aboriginal Health Worker positions.
I checked the facts fairly recently, because, having worked in the health system on and off for the last 20 years, I was astounded at how few Aboriginal Health Workers were on the ground under Labor, particularly in remote areas. I dragged up some figures recently. There has been a 20% drop in the number of Aboriginal Health Workers - now they are called Aboriginal Health Practitioners - employed in the Department of Health over the last 10 years.
What have these people been doing over the other side of the Chamber? Labor has, somehow, allowed the Aboriginal Health Worker system to disintegrate. Why were they not attracting people to these positions? The positions still exist. They have not been taken away. They are not being axed, as the member for Nelson questioned. Those positions are still there, but we cannot fill them. That is the legacy we inherited from the former Labor government. Why did they take their eye off the ball when it came to Aboriginal Health Workers? Why did they allow this important, critical part of the health workforce to disintegrate?
The answer to that is they had obviously taken their eye off the ball and not followed what was happening with these workers in encouraging the continuing education of Aboriginal people, allowing those gateways and pathways into Aboriginal Health Worker positions or professions ...
Ms Walker: Absolute rubbish! Have you ever stayed in VIQs on community? Stay overnight with Aboriginal Health Workers, people from Batchelor who train them. You would not know.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Mrs LAMBLEY: I cannot bear the interjections from the other side of the room; they are completely hypocritical and do not achieve anything. The bottom line is we are going to correct the situation.
Madam SPEAKER: Minister, your time has expired.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016