Private Health Insurance (National Joint Replacement Register Levy) Amendment Bill 2025
Senator STEELE-JOHN (Western Australia) (12:10): Today I am speaking in support of the Private Health Insurance (National Joint Replacement Register Levy) Amendment Bill 2025. It makes a small but important administrative amendment to the operation of the National Joint Replacement Registry. Now, the registry plays a vital role in collecting data on joint replacements, including hip, knee, elbow, wrist, ankle and spinal disc replacements, and it collects data from hospitals across Australia.
It's one of those quiet yet essential pieces of our healthcare system that many people never really hear about, yet it is critical to keeping our Australian community healthy. Joint replacements are life changing for many who in their lives have been dealing with chronic pain or disability. This registry helps surgeons, healthcare professionals, governments and the companies that manufacture joint replacements to understand what is working well and what is not.
It helps doctors improve surgical outcomes, track complications and strengthen accountability in joint replacement surgery. The bill before us doesn't change the registry's functions. It simply clarifies who is responsible for making payments and ensuring that the right entity—in this case the manufacturers and importers of joint replacement prostheses—contributes to the cost of running a robust oversight system.
We support the principle that underpins this legislation: the principle that corporations that profit from medical devices should contribute to maintaining the systems that keep people safe. Maintaining a strong and transparent national joint replacement registry is vital. While this bill may be small in its scope, its impact matters.
Accurate data and proper accountability underpin trust in our healthcare system. This registry has supported the recording, monitoring and analysis of performance outcomes for joint replacements for decades. This collaboration between government, health professionals and the health industry has driven patient safety and improved outcomes for people.
While we are on joint replacements, many in this chamber will know friends and family members who have expressed and shared an experience of a joint replacement and know what a relief having a successful replacement can bring. I also know that for many people who are living with pain day in, day out, experiencing the challenges of being able to afford or access in a timely way joint replacement surgery, it's really tough.
Many people in our community are facing long wait times, and in our public hospital system so many are being pushed to the brink. This year in my home state of WA we are seeing category 2 and category 3 surgeries rescheduled because our hospital system is at breaking point. Because the system is under so much pressure, because overworked emergency departments are creaking under the strain, people are seeing every single day their vitally needed surgeries delayed or postponed.
In recent reporting, we learned the story of a person called Debbie. Debbie is a woman who is based in regional WA, in Albany, who had her double hip replacement cancelled— The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT ( Senator Sharma ): Senator Steele-John, it being 12.15, I now need to proceed to senators' statements. You will be in continuation.