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Legislative Council - Fifty-Third Parliament, First Session (53-1)
2014-08-06 Daily Xml
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APY Lands, Renal Dialysis Units

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS (15:17): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation questions about renal dialysis on the APY lands.

Leave granted.

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS: I refer the minister to his answer to my question on 2 July, when he misrepresented the Leader of the Opposition in another place by stating that funding would be redirected from other programs. What the leader actually said, which was quoted by The Australian in an article entitled 'SA Libs pledge APY lands dialysis unit on 24 January 2014', was 'The Liberals would redirect the NT payments to Western Desert Dialysis,' meaning that only those receiving payments in Alice Springs would be affected.

The minister also referred to the mobile nature of Anangu. However, it is clear that those needing dialysis are mobile because they are forced to be for health reasons. On ABC radio's PM program, in a story entitled 'Permanent dialysis pledge for APY lands', host Caroline Winter interviewed Anangu elder Yanyi Bandicha, who likened patients leaving the lands for dialysis to going to gaol in terms of the effects on the families. Jonathan Nicholls of the Anangu Paper Tracker confirmed that the current system of forcing families to major centres such as Alice Springs, Port Augusta and Adelaide is devastating for families and that communities have been calling for permanent beds on the lands for years. Finally, Sarah Brown from Western Desert dialysis had this to say:

People who are away from home do a whole lot worse, they require accommodation and social workers and help to get income and we know that they're in hospital a whole lot more, which has enormous costs.

My questions to the minister are:

1. Will minister correct the record for deliberately misrepresenting the Leader of the Opposition in this place?

2. Does the minister continue to believe that his policy is in the best interests of patients and the wider Anangu communities?

3. Why does the minister continue to reject the Liberal Party's policy, when it is the most efficient in terms of funding and service delivery, it is preferred by patients and communities and it is endorsed by experts on the ground?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Sustainability, Environment and Conservation, Minister for Water and the River Murray, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation) (15:19): I thank the honourable member for his most important questions. I also note that he was selectively quoting; I think that he referred to comments in The Australian. I don't recall those comments whatsoever. In my previous answer, I was actually referring to comments made by the Leader of the Opposition in the other place on ABC radio, where he made those suggestions that I relayed to the house. So, the honourable member is completely misleading the chamber by suggesting that I need to correct the record on this occasion.

I also reject the premises that form part of the other parts of his question. Again, he is, of course, using quotations from people who support his argument. But, once again, he completely ignores counterviews from health officials, counterviews about the fact that the populations are mobile and that they need to be treated where they are found, not where it is most convenient for government but where it is most convenient for Anangu, and that is the basis on which we apply our medical—

The Hon. R.I. Lucas: Where else do you think it would be?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER: Indeed. The Hon. Mr Lucas betrays his lack of knowledge about this. Anangu do not live on the lands every month of the year. They are a mobile population and, if they do need to seek medical intervention, they want that intervention where they happen to be at that particular point in time. That is why we have a mobile bus to apply renal dialysis around the lands. That is why we fund renal dialysis in Port Augusta, that is why we fund renal dialysis in Alice Springs, and that is why we fund renal dialysis in Adelaide.

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