Radio interview – ABC Radio Perth Drive with Jo Trilling
JO TRILLING, HOST: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is in Perth today announcing seven Urgent Care Clinics that will open across WA to ease pressure on our emergency departments. Good afternoon, Prime Minister.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good to be with you. It’s great to be back in Western Australia.
TRILLING: If we can start with the Urgent Care Clinics, can you provide just some more detail with regard to the triage process? Will there be a threshold? For instance, if someone comes in wanting a prescription, will they be seen?
PRIME MINISTER: What the idea of Urgent Care Clinics is is just that, urgent care. It’s not for a prescription which is there for your GP regular activity. This is about urgent care, to take pressure off the hospital system of emergency departments. So if you have something that is urgent, but not acute, like you have your little boy or girl falls off their skateboard, falls off their bike, a broken limb, something that needs stitches, something that needs that level of attention, where normally, now, people would go to an emergency department and wait for a long period of time. This is about making sure that there’s a health facility in between, if you like, your local GP service where you go for the normal activity, where you would make an appointment and see a GP, and the emergency departments of hospitals.
TRILLING: I guess what I’m asking is, because seeing the GP is expensive, less are bulk-billing, it’s free for somebody to walk into an Urgent Care Clinic. So if they do that, because it’s a free option, will they be seen?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, it’s about urgent care. That’s what it’s about. It’s about making sure that people who need that assistance immediately get it. It’s not aimed at the normal activities that a GP would undertake. This is about making sure that they can get the right care, in the right place, when it’s needed, and that it’s bulk-billed through the Medicare system.
TRILLING: We already have a shortage of GPs and nurses here in WA, there is criticism from some GPs that you’re just shifting the deck chairs here, where are the staff for these clinics going to come from?
PRIME MINISTER: Well importantly, we went through and engaged with the AMA and the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, and went through people who are health service providers to come up with this model. It works very effectively. That’s not to say there aren’t workforce shortages, and that that is a challenge that we also have to deal with. But we need to deal with that at the same time. We’re putting in place structures to deliver a better health service for everyone, particularly those people who can’t get access to service at the moment, or who end up in EDs and therefore are clogging up the system when they could get the right amount of care in the right place. So, for example, the facility we visited in Morley today, that will put in, no doubt, an expression of interest as part of this process, they have on-site X-ray facilities, they have a pharmacy, they have pathology facilities. So those sorts of services can really take pressure off the system, and by ensuring as well that they’re open late at night, till 10:00 at least, will be part of the conditions as well. We believe this will be a really constructive way forward, and we’ve worked with the medical profession on this model.
TRILLING: There’s also been criticism from them that this model of urgent care isn’t affordable or sustainable. We’ve got the St John urgent care clinics operating here already. They’re all private billing. Why will this model work? In New Zealand, for instance, the consumer pays to go to an urgent care clinic which is more expensive than going to see a GP?
PRIME MINISTER: Well this will be free. This will be bulk-billed. This will be a part of the system that we’ve worked through with state and territory governments. Amber-Jade Sanderson was at the media conference today with Mark Butler, the two health ministers. They’ve worked very closely for how we get better primary healthcare, but how at the same time we get better hospital care as well. These seven Urgent Care Centre centres in WA, we expect three of them to be up and running in Perth City, Joondalup and Rockingham by July 1, and the remaining four in Murdoch, Midland, Bunbury and Broome to be up by the end of the year.
TRILLING: And in terms of locations, will they be attached to hospitals?
PRIME MINISTER: They will often be attached to either, they can be in that form, but largely, what they will tend to be is attached to an existing GP service. There is not funding here for infrastructure to build a facility. There is funding, however which will be available for infrastructure to perhaps build on a wing or to help with the specialist services that aren’t available in existing facility like an X-ray facility, or others as well. So that funding will be available as part of this commitment for 50 Urgent Care Clinics right around the country. There are models shown overseas where this sort of system does work. And that’s why we really want this to be available for people, because at the moment, we know that we have issues with primary health care. But we also have problems in our hospital networks right around the country. This is a national problem that requires a solution where the Commonwealth needs to cooperate with state and territory governments. That’s precisely what we’ve been doing.
TRILLING: Moving on Prime Minister, what’s your reaction to the news further charges have been laid by WA Police today against those accused of the murder of 15-year-old school boy Cassius Turvey? In this instance, the new charges relate to the earlier alleged kidnap and assault of another 15-year-old boy?
PRIME MINISTER: I think it is very wise for politicians to not make commentary about charges and matters that are clearly before the courts. And I don’t intend to do so. I would say though, that my heart goes out to the family who showed such courage, I’ve got to say, of Cassius.
TRILLING: On juvenile justice, there’s been sustained pressure on the State Government here to remove children currently held in an adult jail, and improve conditions at Banksia Hill, WA’s juvenile detention centre. Are you comfortable with kids being held in an adult prison and being locked in their cells for up to 23 hours a day?
PRIME MINISTER: Oh look, these matters are dealt with by the WA Government. I don’t intend to comment on all aspects of WA Government policy, and to do so would be to assume a level of knowledge with the detail, which is simply not possible to do right around the country.
TRILLING: We’ve had the ex-head of the Children’s Court, respected judges, Professor Fiona Stanley, all calling for the Premier to rethink his position there. You don’t have a view on it?
PRIME MINISTER: Well I have a view, which is my job as Prime Minister is a pretty big one, to manage the economy, to deal with federal issues of social security, to deal with the federal challenges that we have with rising inflation at the moment, to put together a Budget in in May, as well as to deliver a range of services that the Commonwealth is responsible for, including strengthening Medicare. I am not intending to comment, in each state and territory jurisdiction, about matters that are the responsibility of the state and territory governments.
TRILLING: Prime Minister, let’s talk about something that you have been focused on, the Voice. It continues to be plagued by distractions and noise around the structure of the legislation and calls for more detail rather than the focus being on the question of the referendum. How do you plan to cut through that noise?
PRIME MINISTER: Well by simply pointing out the facts. And the fact is that the referendum is about two things. It’s about recognition and consultation. That’s all. Firstly, recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in our nation’s birth certificate, our Constitution, that should be a source of pride. And secondly, that there should be a body in which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are consulted about matters that affect them. And the reason why that’s good idea is because you get better outcomes, and more practical outcomes, if you consult people who are directly engaged and directly involved. We have to close the gap in education, in health, in justice issues, in so many areas. There is a huge gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australia, and we need to do better. And consulting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, which is what a Voice is about. It won’t be a funding body, it won’t run programs, it won’t have a power of veto. It will be a body that can be consulted, and that can have a say and have a voice indeed on matters of policy.
TRILLING: The No campaign launched this week with some well-known faces at its helm. Who should lead the Yes campaign in WA?
PRIME MINISTER: People are leading the Yes campaign already from the bottom-up. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, churches, ethnic community organisations. I just met with a Chinese community organisation that are going to be running a campaign for yes in the referendum later this year. Sporting organisations, the AFL have endorsed strongly a Voice to Parliament. And major businesses as well, including major corporations based here in WA, like Woodside and Rio, have all committed to supporting a Voice to Parliament and to supporting constitutional recognition for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. So I don’t think you’ll see just one person or one group, what you’ll see is people in community-based organisations around the state of WA, just like the rest of the country, engaged in this campaign. Obviously Pat Dodson’s a proud West Australian, and he has a particular responsibility as a Special Envoy for the Uluru Statement from the Heart, and he will be very prominent in the campaign, I have no doubt.
TRILLING: Just finally, Prime Minister, Woodside is being forced to collectively bargain at its North West Shelf platforms for the first time in thirty years. A big win for the unions, and we know more IR changes are on the way. What do you say to businesses concerned with this development?
PRIME MINISTER: I say that businesses and unions have a common interest, in coming together to boost productivity, as well as to boost the quality of work which is done, as well as to assist the people who work so hard for particular businesses, whether it be Woodside or others as well. And that collective bargaining, sitting down and negotiating these issues through, is something that’s been a feature of industrial relations for more than 100 years now.
TRILLING: Prime Minister, thank you so much for your time.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks very much for having me on the program.
ENDS