Wilkie seeking federal health help

Good luck to new minister

THE Federal Government has plans to boost Tasmania’s status as a hub for medical research, Independent MP Andrew Wilkie said.

Mr Wilkie yesterday met Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt to seek help with the state’s health crisis.

Mr Wilkie said Mr Hunt was seeking further information on claims the State Government was diverting GST receipts earmarked for health.

“The minister also revealed to me a new initiative to turn Tasmania, and in particular the University of Tasmania and the Menzies Institute, into a medical research hub which will make Hobart a more attractive destination for senior doctors who will be able to bolster the broader medical workforce,” he said.

Mr Wilkie said the meeting also confirmed the provision of promised support for state health services.

“The minister identified three current federal initiatives aimed at improving Tasmania’s health services, and in particular he confirmed the $20 million funding boost for elective surgery.

“He revealed that the first $5 million is being transferred to the Tasmanian Government this week. He also confirmed that a new rural Medicare provider number would be available from January 1, 2020 to enable a broader range of GPs to practice in rural areas.”

The State Government has rejected Mr Wilkie’s claims on health.

It says the health budget is up from 25 per cent of total spending to 32 per cent in a decade.

E admit we were being a bit cheeky with our front page yesterday ( below) that showed all nine State Government ministers — bar one — wearing massive smiles. The one who was looking less than impressed was new Health Minister Sarah Courtney. And while we accept it was most likely just an unfortunate moment in time (she was smiling in other photos), the official portrait nevertheless reflects a truth: that the health portfolio in any state government is always a seriously poisoned chalice.

That is because no matter how hard you try and the successes you have, the challenges are always greater — and it’s the health minister that has to front up and take the blame.

But here’s another truth: in any role, it’s always tougher to follow a superstar than it is to follow someone who has been criticised for their performance. A And on this, Ms Courtney is in a good position.

After five long years as he health minister, Michael Fe Ferguson was overdue to be moved on. In recent m months he had become th the touchstone of discontent di with the state’s ailing ai health system — the th target of a series of no-confidence no and censure ce motions in the State St Parliament, and of criticism cr from those in the th wider health sector.

He now takes on the dual du roles of Minister for State St Growth and Infrastructure Infrast t — both massively important jobs that require the steady hand of an experienced minister (did someone say traffic congestion?).

Ms Courtney, meanwhile, has no doubt started receiving briefings from the Health Department’s army of bureaucrats. And that’s fine. But as we said in this column on Monday, we suggest she also — as a priority — gets out there and talks to those at the coalface. And that she makes it clear that those discussions should be a warts-and-all assessment, with zero threat of blowback to any staff for what they might tell her. It is vital she hears the truth as she gets on with the job.

We also suggest she listens carefully to those in the wider health sector. The Australian Medical Association, for instance, has suggested Minister Courtney’s first two decisions should be to launch a recruitment drive for more nurses and clinical support staff and to overhaul the health bureaucracy. On this second point, AMA Tasmania president John Burgess suggests a restructure of the way the Health Department (the bureaucrats) interacts with the Tasmanian Health Service (which runs the hospitals) to “end the reactive mess the system has been caught in”. We don’t pretend to be experts on these matters here at the Mercury, but they do sound like a pretty good couple of places to start.

We agree with Premier Will Hodgman’s concession that changing the minister will not be a “silver bullet” to fix the significant challenges confronting the state’s health system. Neither will the appointment of the highly respected Deputy Premier Jeremy Rockliff to the newly created role of Minister for Mental Health and Wellbeing (and so including preventative medicine). But both these appointments are welcome.

And so we wish Ms Courtney and Mr Rockliff the very best, and share the hopes of all Tasmanians that they will be able to have more success than Mr Ferguson in grappling with what is the most challenging of jobs in any state government.

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