CONSTITUENCY STATEMENTS

Mr VENNING (Grey) (09:47): I rise to speak about the decision that is putting families, doctors and whole communities in the Mid North at risk. Last week, the Labor government's six-month maternity trial began at Jamestown and Crystal Brook. How did the people of the Mid North find out about this change?

They read about it in the paper. Let me say that again: mothers, fathers, grandparents and the doctors who deliver these services found out about this change to their own birthing units from the newspaper. That is not consultation; that is contempt.

Even the doctors had only two days notice before these changes were implemented. Now a doctor in Orroroo can't serve his community because he is on call for births through this new trial. They are going to have to redo their whole business model because of these changes to which there was no consultation.

There's been no thought about how this will actually work on the ground. If the government has done the work—then, sure. But they need to actually work with the community and the doctors before implementing these drastic changes.

When doctors were—rightfully so—concerned about how this would work in practice, they reached out to those making the decisions. They were simply told that this is how it's going to work and you need to cooperate. These are significant operational changes imposed on an already functioning model.

Looking at the bigger picture, there are 60 patients a year across Jamestown and Crystal Brook who need maternity services, yet these changes are removing our regional GPs from primary care, putting them at risk. The community is rightly worried. They are frightened about what this means for their access to health care.

Labor's answer to a shortage of midwives is to share the shortage and call it a service while risking ED and primary care. The government cannot call the service sustainable simply because it takes turns being available. Regional mums need certainty about where they can give birth, not a calendar telling them where they cannot.

You wouldn't expect a regional emergency department to operate on a rotating monthly roster. Why should maternity care be treated any differently? The impact is already being felt.

In Labor's infinite wisdom trying to address birthing services, these changes are now putting emergency services, ED and primary care at risk. Right now, a doctor in Orroroo who would normally be on call this weekend cannot be, because he is on the birthing roster, so a locum has to travel from Maitland to fill his spot at enormous expense to the LHN. This isn't appalling funding from Adelaide.

This is your money in your LHN, and it needs to be changed.