Rural Health Reform

It is a privilege to be Chair of the Select Committee on Remote, Rural and Regional Health. This committee was established to inquire into and report on health outcomes and access to health and hospital services in rural, regional and remote New South Wales. 

There are two reports now - The implementation of Portfolio Committee No. 2 recommendations relating to workforce issues, workplace culture and funding considerations for remote, rural and regional health and the implementation of Portfolio Committee No. 2 recommendations relating to the delivery of specific health services and specialist care in remote, rural and regional NSW.

These reports highlight progress has been made but more needs to be done to improve health outcomes for regional, rural and remote communities.

You can read more about the reports here.

There continues to be an obstetrics crisis in rural and regional NSW. We need to address the severe shortages of GP obstetricians and midwives and the closure of birthing centres serving country communities.

This is a crisis that threatens the safety of women and their babies and undermines the future of small communities.

 It is essential that a concerted, targeted effort is made to provide safe and effective birthing services as close to home as possible for rural and regional families. I have successfully called on the Government to develop an action plan to tackle NSW’s rural and regional obstetrics crisis and look forward to seeing that plan by early 2026.

This is also an issue that is addressed in the committee’s second report.

Our community had a great win in July 2024 when the government confirmed out-of-pocket costs would be eliminated for patients undergoing radiotherapy and medical oncology in Wagga. This breakthrough followed years of determined advocacy and I thank the thousands of people who added their voices to this important development. 

I continue to campaign for desperately needed improvements to regional paediatric services.

An increasing number of children are missing out on the care they need because of a lack of services, long wait times and other challenges.

With some of my fellow Independents, I’m supporting proposals for increased services in Wagga and regional New South Wales and we are continuing to work with the government to ensure regional kids get the best start to life possible.