Here we are into mid- October and Federal Labor has broken another election promise.
The promise was that they would deliver fifty so called urgent care clinics across Australia by the July 1 2023.
Among the list of fifty locations was Rockhampton.
To date the Albanese Labor Government have delivered just two and surprise surprise both of them are located in Southeast Queensland.
The Government’s failure to establish or deliver the original fifty clinics within their own time frame is a blatant broken promise.
Sadly, since this Labor Government came to power, it has become more difficult to access a GP, the health care system is under serious pressure and now they have broken their promise on delivering an Urgent Care Clinic to relieve our local hospital.
Labor made a promise to local residents at the last election that they would establish this additional health service, yet their failure to meet the deadline proves once again that they cannot be trusted to deliver real and urgent outcomes especially to regional Australians.
Sadly, the Albanese Government continues to prove that the only time Labor really prioritise health is during election campaigns, and when it comes to actually delivering the services that the people of Capricornia needs, they fail miserably.
They have also failed Regional Australia by changing the Distribution Priority Areas.
The Distribution Priority Area (DPA) is a system that puts limits on where International Medical Graduates (IMGs) are allowed to work as GPs in Australia.
The DPA is based on the Department’s Modified Monash Model which classifies areas of Australia based on remoteness, on a scale of one through to seven.
More than 52 per cent of Australia’s GPs are trained overseas so as far as the health workforce is concerned it is a very important mechanism.
Now previously International Medical Graduates were restricted to work in a rural community for ten years, or a remote area for five years.
As a result of Labor’s DPA expansion, outer metro suburbs now have the same workforce priority status as rural and remote parts of Australia.
This has made it even harder for Capricornian’s to see a doctor.
With the changes the Albanese Labor Government have made to this system doctors will move from rural and remote locations where they have been required to work under previous DPA rules to areas that they may perceive as more desirable that are a great deal closer to capital cities. If they cannot recruit GP’s rural practices will be forced to close.
The DPA classification system should prioritise rural and remote parts of Australia before all metropolitan catchments, even those with a shortage of health workers.
Either way this is yet another undelivered broken promise from the Albanese Labor Government.
The problem with Labor whether it be Federal, or State is that they have no plan for regional Australia but more than that they just don’t care.
