Ms MANISON - 2013-11-28
Indigenous health workers play a vital role in providing primary and preventative healthcare in Northern Territory communities. They are also an important part of the Indigenous workforce in remote regions, yet we are hearing that many Indigenous health worker positions on communities are being lost. Your Health minister has been careful in her denials, and you said on radio that you have no knowledge of the issue; yet, we keep hearing it. Recently on talkback radio a whistleblower said 32 Indigenous health worker positions in the Top End and 27 in Central Australia are going. Can you reveal how many Indigenous health worker positions are going, on what communities and how many community health jobs are disappearing?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Wanguri for her question. In case you do not realise it, the Minister for Health is here and I ask her to answer your question.
Mrs LAMBLEY: Madam Speaker, there are no Aboriginal Health Worker positions being axed from the Department of Health in the Northern Territory. Coming to government 15 months ago and taking on this portfolio of Health in March, I was horrified to find the number of Aboriginal health practitioners in the Northern Territory had decreased by 20% under the former Labor government. That is a significant number of Aboriginal Health Worker positions that are not in existence now because of the failure of the former Labor government.
I had the pleasure of handing out Aboriginal health practitioner awards last week, and not only did I make that comment, but John Paterson, the CEO of AMSANT made the same comment that, essentially, under Labor, the whole system disintegrated. So we are faced with vacant positions in health clinics across the Northern Territory that are not able to be filled because Labor took their eye off the ball; they failed to educate people in the areas of health practitioners and health workers. They failed to stimulate that sector of the health workforce and now we have a lack of suitable people to take these positions.
I have travelled extensively throughout the Northern Territory in the last nine months and I hear time and time again that health worker positions are unable to be filled. I went to Papunya a few weeks ago and they have a health worker position which has been vacant for six years. We have only been in government for 15 months. For all those years that position was vacant under Labor.
I am faced with the enormous task of fixing another mess left by Labor. I thank the member for Wanguri, but, of course, they do not want to hear this …
Ms FYLES: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 113: relevance. It was a very direct question. How many positions are going, in what communities and which jobs are disappearing?
Madam SPEAKER: Thank you, member for Nightcliff. Minister, you have the call.
Mrs LAMBLEY: They do not take responsibility for anything, whether it is the downfall of education, the failure of Labor to deliver in the education space or the failure of Labor to deliver in the health space.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Wanguri for her question. In case you do not realise it, the Minister for Health is here and I ask her to answer your question.
Mrs LAMBLEY: Madam Speaker, there are no Aboriginal Health Worker positions being axed from the Department of Health in the Northern Territory. Coming to government 15 months ago and taking on this portfolio of Health in March, I was horrified to find the number of Aboriginal health practitioners in the Northern Territory had decreased by 20% under the former Labor government. That is a significant number of Aboriginal Health Worker positions that are not in existence now because of the failure of the former Labor government.
I had the pleasure of handing out Aboriginal health practitioner awards last week, and not only did I make that comment, but John Paterson, the CEO of AMSANT made the same comment that, essentially, under Labor, the whole system disintegrated. So we are faced with vacant positions in health clinics across the Northern Territory that are not able to be filled because Labor took their eye off the ball; they failed to educate people in the areas of health practitioners and health workers. They failed to stimulate that sector of the health workforce and now we have a lack of suitable people to take these positions.
I have travelled extensively throughout the Northern Territory in the last nine months and I hear time and time again that health worker positions are unable to be filled. I went to Papunya a few weeks ago and they have a health worker position which has been vacant for six years. We have only been in government for 15 months. For all those years that position was vacant under Labor.
I am faced with the enormous task of fixing another mess left by Labor. I thank the member for Wanguri, but, of course, they do not want to hear this …
Ms FYLES: A point of order, Madam Speaker! Standing Order 113: relevance. It was a very direct question. How many positions are going, in what communities and which jobs are disappearing?
Madam SPEAKER: Thank you, member for Nightcliff. Minister, you have the call.
Mrs LAMBLEY: They do not take responsibility for anything, whether it is the downfall of education, the failure of Labor to deliver in the education space or the failure of Labor to deliver in the health space.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016