Dr LIM - 2006-10-12
Is it not the case that the Territory government receives twice as much as the national average – in fact 204.9% to be exact – from the Commonwealth Grants Commission for health care? You also receive a further $103m in additional SPP payments for health grants. You are taking a bulk billing after-hours medical practice from the 25 000 people in Palmerston. Why do they have to travel a 50 km round trip, wait for hours at the Emergency Department of the Royal Darwin Hospital, when you receive so much money to provide services to all Territorians? While you are on your feet answering the question, please confirm what the member for Brennan said; that there are four after-hours services in Palmerston. Where are they and who are they, so the people of Palmerston can get the bulk billing services you provide?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, if the member for Greatorex had been listening carefully, I said that, in toto, there are seven GP practices in the Palmerston region and that four of those offered after-hours services in one form or another. That is what I said and the Parliamentary Record will bear me out on that.
In relation to Commonwealth funding for health services within the Northern Territory, these are determined by the Commonwealth Grants Commission. It is true that the Territory does receive more on the basis of that formula, which is in relation to the percentage of indigenous people in our population, factors related to remoteness, a whole range of factors indicated on that formula through the Commonwealth Grants Commission which really determines the level of funding within the Northern Territory. What that Commonwealth Grants Commission funding does not do is ask the Northern Territory to provide such GP services as we are talking about here today. It does not ask the Territory to provide bulk billing services within that context either.
I will come back to the statement by Tony Abbott where he said …
Dr Lim: Where are these practices in Palmerston that bulk bill?
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Dr BURNS: It is not a given statistic …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Dr BURNS: In his May media release, he said:
Well, Tony, that does not include Palmerston. The 63 that you have already given does not include Palmerston. Where is David Tollner? Where is Nigel Scullion? Where is this election promise of the federal government, of which Tollner and Scullion were part? Where is its delivery in Palmerston?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, if the member for Greatorex had been listening carefully, I said that, in toto, there are seven GP practices in the Palmerston region and that four of those offered after-hours services in one form or another. That is what I said and the Parliamentary Record will bear me out on that.
In relation to Commonwealth funding for health services within the Northern Territory, these are determined by the Commonwealth Grants Commission. It is true that the Territory does receive more on the basis of that formula, which is in relation to the percentage of indigenous people in our population, factors related to remoteness, a whole range of factors indicated on that formula through the Commonwealth Grants Commission which really determines the level of funding within the Northern Territory. What that Commonwealth Grants Commission funding does not do is ask the Northern Territory to provide such GP services as we are talking about here today. It does not ask the Territory to provide bulk billing services within that context either.
I will come back to the statement by Tony Abbott where he said …
Dr Lim: Where are these practices in Palmerston that bulk bill?
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Dr BURNS: It is not a given statistic …
Members interjecting.
Madam SPEAKER: Order!
Dr BURNS: In his May media release, he said:
- By delivering on its Round the Clock Medicare election policy commitment, the government is improving access to after-hours GP care, both in metropolitan and regional Australia.
Well, Tony, that does not include Palmerston. The 63 that you have already given does not include Palmerston. Where is David Tollner? Where is Nigel Scullion? Where is this election promise of the federal government, of which Tollner and Scullion were part? Where is its delivery in Palmerston?
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016