PRIVATE MEMBERS' BUSINESS

Ms ALDRED (Monash—Opposition Whip) (11:14): I welcome the opportunity to speak to this motion, and I want to recognise the genuine and long-term commitment to this issue that the member for Dickson brings, in so bringing this motion. I also want to associate myself with the remarks made by the member for Lindsay, our shadow minister, and also the member for Lalor.

I think both of them have raised some excellent points, and I associate myself with both of those genuine and deeply felt contributions. The widening gap in health care access facing women and girls is a critical issue that too often is ignored. I particularly want to address my remarks through the perspective of our regional communities across Australia, particularly regional Victoria.

When you live in regional areas, your postcode shouldn't dictate your quality of life or the access to health care that you receive. But, too often, regional women do face systemic barriers, longer wait times and a shortage of the services that they need. I come to this issue as a former board member of Lifeline Gippsland and someone who has taken a deep interest in mental health services in the Gippsland region.

One of those areas that is most stark is the area of mental health. Regional areas face immense pressures, ranging from economic instability to environmental challenges, and those things take a massive toll on the mental wellbeing of women and girls in our regional towns. I also want to make the point that, too often, women and girls are told when they present for medical consultation that their symptoms are normal or that they're making a fuss, and I think there's been progress made in pushing back on that issue, but there's more work to be done.

Talking about it, as we are in this place, through this motion that the member for Dickson has brought forward, is one of the ways we can address that. On the mental health front, I'm proud that, when the coalition was in government, we expanded the Better Access initiative to provide 20 Medicare subsidised mental health sessions annually. That was important for regional communities like mine, and I've spoken a number of times on that and the positive impact that it had.

I would very much like to see it restored, and I'll continue my advocacy to this federal government to see those subsidised sessions restored from 10 to 20. That's because, for many regional women dealing with complex trauma, severe depression or postnatal anxiety, 10 sessions are simply not enough. One of the issues that challenges access to health care for women in regional areas is not just structural; it is physical.

We see that for many women who don't live in a major city or town area, who might live in a smaller or more remote community. Just the physical distance between where they live to where they need to access those treatments is a significant barrier. I also see it in communities like West Gippsland, where the West Gippsland hospital is under extreme pressure.

This is a great hospital. It's a very old building. It predates World War I in some of the infrastructure.

The medical staff—more broadly, all of the staff and doctors there—are really dedicated to what they do. But the pressure on its maternity services for a hospital that consistently manages over 1,000 births every single year is making it the busiest obstetric hub in the entire Gippsland region. I very much am working with my state parliamentary colleague Wayne Farnham to get a new West Gippsland hospital over the line.

But I do want to acknowledge local midwives and obstetricians who do an incredible job. They're dealing with a historic regional baby boom in parts of our region, and that is why we desperately need added investment into those services. I could talk about a few other things.

I know there's been bipartisan support for the endometriosis and pelvic pain clinics. I think these are a game changer. I welcome both sides committing and committing funding to them.

We need to see more investment in that as well as an expanded Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme to list life-saving drugs and treatments.