Health Care for Regional and Rural South Australia

Mr ELLIS (Narungga) (15:23): I rise today, having tabled a significant petition in this place, a petition of almost 10,700 signatures which has thereby triggered an inquiry into regional health care and, specifically and excitingly, health care in Narungga. It is not an understatement that this is a momentous development. Petitions of this magnitude are rarely presented to parliament and to have one come from predominantly one electorate is a demonstration of the sheer magnitude of concern felt by my constituents when it comes to health care. It is, without a shadow of a doubt, the biggest issue in the minds of regional voters.

Regional health care and the need for improvements is the issue I get approached about most in the street, it is the subject of the majority of meetings I have in my office and, personally, the primary reason I was inspired to run for parliament in the first place.

It is something that I have brought to this chamber's attention many times: when I launched this petition and explained the clauses in October last year, when I successfully carried a motion in June 2022 demanding we address the critical shortage of doctors in regional SA and at various times during question time. Despite that, it seems nothing is changing on the ground.

As such, this latest action will trigger an inquiry in parliament that will be recorded on Hansard, and those people who visit my office, who bail me up in the street and who call me about the topic will be able to ask those with the capacity to make the decisions why nothing seems to be changing.

It is sincerely hoped that the lodging of this community petition today—which carries the highest number of signatures ever collected in the history of my electorate on any topic, even surpassing the public outcry back in 2008 when Yorketown Hospital was going to be closed under the rural health plan, and again in 2016-17 under Transforming Health—will serve as the catalyst for this vital change.

Petitioning the parliament is a long-established fundamental right of all citizens. It is one of the few direct means of communication between the people and the parliament and, as such, is deserving of the full respect of all in this place. It is clear that more must be urgently done to recruit and retain GPs and properly staff and resource our country hospitals, but all we seem to hear about are metropolitan issues.

Ambulance ramping at city hospitals is crucially alarming, but the rural health system is also in crisis and we in the country are tired of being treated as second-tier citizens. Our local GPs, nurses and visiting specialists deserve more support from the government, as do all of us who live in Narungga and across regional South Australia. The continuing existence of townships and population sustainment within our rural district relies on the continuing availability of quality, sustainable and locally available health services.

I would like to take this opportunity to urge those on the Legislative Review Committee—and I will be writing to them to reinforce this point—those who will be conducting this inquiry, to do a thorough and meaningful job of it. As previously articulated, there is no more important issue in regional South Australia than this one, and my constituents expect a considered, forensic, and thorough examination of regional health care with actionable recommendations about how to fix it.

I also want to take this opportunity to thank all the businesses, community groups, councils and individuals who did so much of the legwork to collect these signatures. While it is a dangerous thing to single out the people who did so much of that legwork, there are a few who deserve a special mention. The crew at Moonta Medical Centre, led by Dr Ashraf, and Medical HQ at Maitland, with Dr Rod Pearce, did an outstanding job of collecting signatures. Megan and Rod Penna at Goyder Street Cafe did a wonderful job and sold a few burgers whilst doing it.

The Maitland CHATT centre, various caravan parks during busy times, and both the Copper Coast and YP councils did an outstanding job. Individuals such as Carolyn Neumann, Peter Egel, Pam Kerr and many others deserve a special thanks. But the 'specialest' of special thanks, if there is such a word, needs to go to Ashlynne Pointon, who is in the gallery today, who did a truly astronomical job in collecting signatures. Thank you very much for all the work that you have done, each and every one of you.

One final plea to the constituents of Narungga: please contribute to this inquiry. We have made our voice heard with this petition and the benefit will truly be in making submissions highlighting our concerns. Now is our opportunity and I would urge each and every one of you to seize it with both hands and make our voice heard with specific examples of experiences people have had with the hospitals and with our healthcare system, good, bad or otherwise.