STATEMENTS BY MEMBERS

Ms PENFOLD (Lyne) (16:30): Sometimes government needs to look beyond a bureaucratic classification and see what is actually happening in a community. Today, I'm asking the government to do exactly that for the Manning and for Dr Alex Boué. Dr Boué is a qualified general surgeon who wants to live, work and care for patients in our region.

Manning Base Hospital has appointed him as a visiting medical officer. A private hospital has credentialed him to practice, but he cannot obtain the Medicare provider number he needs in Taree because Taree is not classified as a district of workforce shortage for general surgery. That classification is out of date.

It does not reflect what is happening on the ground today. Local surgeons are warning of retirements, overwhelming demand and growing waiting lists. And here is the absurdity: Dr Boué has already been granted a provider number to work at Forster Private Hospital, just 30 kilometres down the road, but he cannot do the same work in Taree.

This is because of that DWS classification. I personally raised Dr Boué's case with the Assistant Minister for Rural and Regional Health and asked the government to intervene. The government said no.

This isn't about politics; it's about people and access to health care in regional Australia. Minister, please use some common sense and the discretion at your disposal. Look beyond the outdated classification.

Give Dr Boué the provider number and let him get on with looking after the people of the Manning.