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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 7 Hansard (24 June) . . Page.. 2336 ..

MS TUCKER

We have a situation where, in particular, Winnunga Nimmityjah are struggling to deal with their client load. They have had an increase in the number of non-indigenous clients which, after this budget, they feel they can no longer support. That links in with the question of the availability of bulk-billing in Canberra. It is obvious that a number of people are going to Winnunga because they can get medical attention there whereas they cannot get it anywhere else. They could, of course, go to accident and emergency if they had the capacity to get there.

Another reason that those people go there is that they receive treatment and support which is non-judgmental. That is an interesting observation and says a lot about what our mainstream services are doing. Much as I acknowledge the quality of so many of the people working in the health services, the unfortunate reality is that stigma is still being experienced by some people, particularly those marginalised and on the edge of our community.

I think it would be worth while for this government to reconsider its approach to bulk-billing. I understand that Commonwealth failures have created this situation, but I feel that we have a fundamental responsibility to ensure that people in our community can access primary preventative health care, which is basically a GP, and that the costs to our community, once again, are not carried by the ACT budget, but are carried by the Commonwealth.

The social costs to a community are significant when its government, its parliament, is prepared to say that the problem is not its problem because it has no financial responsibility and leave it at that, because the reality for the human beings involved is dire. Lots of innocent people are caught up in this regard. I include children in that, because I know that some of the families I have dealt with in Canberra are on the breadline literally but have not been able to access doctors for their children.

Some are on the breadline and do not have a health care card because they earn a bit more than they can for that and others do not have a health care card because they are actually right out of the system. That happens for various reasons, mostly Commonwealth related. But we come back to the fundamental situation, that is, if the Commonwealth is failing in its processes and, through its processes, through breaching people and so on, it is unable to meet these really fundamental needs, then we have to do so.

I was really pleased to see the government acknowledge the issues in dental health. Once again, they are picking up on some of the Commonwealth's failures, and I commend them for that. I am still concerned about the need for mental health workers, particularly outreach workers. We have seen a fair bit of debate about the need for outreach workers for women and where, exactly, the money is going. I know that Toora have been very concerned about the lack of support for their work in this area and the rather vague expenditure here in terms of whether it will reach the women. Providing mental health outreach workers is about prevention. Once again the financial, social and human costs are much greater in the long run if people cannot be supported with their mental illness.

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