Maiden MP visit achieves great RESULTS!

Rachel Achterstraat is our ACTION Project Coordinator and recently went on her first Member of Parliament meeting in Canberra last Friday with RESULTS National Manager Maree Nutt. She wrote about her experience:

Today, I attended my first ever MP visit. In many ways this was my 'baptism by fire' because as it happens, my local Federal Member (of Warringah) is none other than Tony Abbott, Leader of the Opposition.

RESULTS National Manager Maree Nutt and I met with Mr. Abbott to discuss the premature closure of medical clinics in the Torres Strait Islands (TSI), which have been treating Papua New Guineans with tuberculosis (TB) for the past six years.

A recent decision made by the Australian Government to cut funding for these clinics has led to their forced closure.

The implications of this decision are far-reaching.

PNG patients who had previously received treatment through the TSI clinics will now be at high risk of developing Multi-Drug Resistant TB (a more vicious strain of the virus) and Australian citizens will be exposed to a significantly increased risk of cross-border transmission.

The Government has proposed that these funds should be diverted away from these life-saving clinics and funneled into a more broader health systems strentgthening approach to tackle the high rates of TB in PNG.

Whilst RESULTS is pleased that the Australian Government will be investing in health service delivery for our nearest neighbor, it is too early to tell if the proposed strategy will be of any effect.

It is also estimated that building the capacity of the PNG health system to cope with the national TB burden will take more than a decade, resulting in at least ten years of increased risk to a highly infectious and often fatal disease.

Having served previously as the Minister for Health and the Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Mr. Abbott took interest in the issue. He was particularly concerned by the potential for TB to spread throughout the Australian Indigenous population in Northern Australia, and also the potential impact of increased TB transmission in a country with a high HIV/AIDS burden, such as PNG.

Mr. Abbott agreed that a short term and longer term strategy is required to address this issue and was dismayed at the shortsightedness of current plans to close the clinics.

Mr. Abbott suggested that he would write a Letter to Prime Minister Julia Gillard, outlining RESULTS recommendations and asking the Government to resume funding for the TSI Clinics. Mr. Abbott also suggested that his Minister for Indigenous Health could ask a Question of Notice to the Parliament at Question Time.

Despite first-time nerves and a few tongue-ties, I think my first MP visit was a success.

Having the ever-sharp Maree along with me was a huge support.

I believe we left with the promise of a concrete action from Mr. Abbott and the beginnings of an open dialogue with his team.

From Left to Right: National Manager Maree Nutt, ACTION Project Manager
Rachel Achterstraat, and Federal Leader of the Opposition Tony Abbott.