I’m pleased that the Carinda community will now be able to access much-needed support to assist with the clean-up following the violent storm that ripped through the town on November 17, causing significant damage to buildings.

Assistance will be provided to Walgett Shire Council to help with the clean-up and the restoration of critical infrastructure and public assets through the jointly funded Commonwealth-State Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements.

Support will also be available for eligible residents to access emergency accommodation, replace essential household contents and undertake repairs to return their house to a safe, habitable standard.

Further information on disaster assistance can be found on the Australian Government’s Disaster Assist website at www.disasterassist.gov.au

Call to continue funding Royal Far West

Last week in Parliament I moved a motion urging the Labor Government to continue funding the Royal Far West’s National Paediatric Telecare Service (NPTS) which is delivering crucial paediatric services to country children via schools.

In 2019, Royal Far West received $19.7 million in funding from the former Coalition Government to establish the NPTS, which is being delivered in 143 schools and 56 early learning centres across rural and remote Australia and provides children with access to various clinicians including speech pathologists, clinical psychologists, occupational therapists and social workers via telehealth.

While I understand that telehealth is not a replacement for face-to-face care, this service is playing a big role in helping to fill a much-needed gap, and close the gap, for rural children unable to access paediatric services due to a lack of specialists, cost and travel restraints.

Funding for this service runs out in June next year and there is currently no bucket of funding available for this type of program. Without funding, it will not be able to continue which would be detrimental to the thousands of children this service supports each year. We cannot afford to let these children fall behind if they don’t get the support they need.

Visit my website to view the video of my Private Members’ Business motion: www.markcoulton.com.au/coulton-calls-for-ongoing-funding-for-royal-far-west/

I also spoke on my colleague, Member for Mallee, Dr Anne Webster’s motion calling on the Minister for Health to advance rural generalist pathways in medicine, nursing and allied health, to address dire workforce shortages. The transcript of my speech can be found at www.markcoulton.com.au/private-members-business-rural-and-regional-health-services/

Social media age limit legislated

A number of bills passed through Parliament during the final sitting week of the year last week, including legislation to enforce an age limit of 16 for social media.

I’ve been contacted by lots of people concerned about this legislation, mostly around privacy. I also have similar concerns, but this legislation has been passed after the Coalition negotiated changes which strengthened rules around privacy. Under these changes, people cannot be compelled to provide Digital ID or government-issued identity documents such as drivers licences or passports. The legislation also prohibits platforms from using information collected for age checking purposes for any other purpose, unless explicitly agreed to by the individual.

The new system won’t be perfect – no laws are. Some kids will get around the system, just like people flout speeding or underage drinking laws. But hopefully it will make a real difference for Australian families in protecting children from online harm.

Aged care bill passes

Another significant piece of legislation that passed was the Aged Care Bill. The Coalition worked hard in negotiating with the Government to ensure these reforms provide dignity and clarity for older Australians.

We pushed for further changes to the legislation to ensure small, rural, regional and remote aged care homes were able to be supported through this process. We secured an additional $300 million Aged-Care Capital Assistance Programme round, specifically for homes in rural and remote locations. This funding can be used for accommodation for workers, construction, or renovations to the aged care home.

We know that in the regions, many aged care homes struggle to find staff to meet the Government staffing mandates. That is why we moved an amendment to allow enrolled nurses, and registered nurses via telehealth, to be utilised within these mandates as well. However, the Labor Government opposed this important amendment.

The Government also opposed our amendment to give providers a year to adapt to this significant package of reforms. We know small, regional, rural and remote providers in particular need more time to adjust to these changes and the Coalition will keep fighting for a genuine transition timeline. We’ll also continue to fight for sensible changes that seek to ensure aged care providers in regional areas will not be forced to close their doors because of this Government’s inflexible policies.

Commentary by Mark Coulton, Federal Member for Parkes