THOMAS ORITI, ABC NEWS: Okay, as we've been reporting this morning, the Federal Government has made a pre-election pledge to spend half $1 billion for new measures in women's health. That includes encouraging the uptake of long acting contraceptives.
FAUZIAH IBRAHIM, ABC NEWS: Now, they've also promised new measures to support treatment for women experiencing menopause symptoms. Well, Ged Kearney is the Assistant Minister for Health, and she joins us now from Canberra. A very good morning to you. Thank you for being with us today.
GED KEARNEY, ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGED CARE: Great pleasure for a great announcement.
IBRAHIM: It does seem that way to be quite a great announcement for many women but I'd like to ask you, why has the Labor Party decided to target long term contraceptives like IUD, particularly when Australia has one of the lowest uptakes of this contraception?
KEARNEY: That's right. We do have one of the lowest uptakes of long acting reversible contraceptives like IUDs and Implanon and when you compare us with the world and we think one of the major reasons is the barrier of cost. It's been extremely expensive for women to have an IUD or Implanon inserted. And these measures go a long way to alleviating that cost. For example, we expect women to save between $400 and $500 on this process. So this is revolutionising, I think, long acting reversible contraceptives, or LARCs as they're commonly known, and will encourage more women to take them up. They're extremely effective. You only need them once every eight years. You don't have to take the pill every day. You don't have to go back to the GP for further scripts. So this is really- I think will revolutionise contraceptive care in this country for women.
IBRAHIM: Look, it all sounds really good, Minister, except there are reports that women are finding it difficult to access non-hormonal IUDs. This is particularly for women who are undergoing cancer treatment or so. Does the package include ensuring that these non-hormonal IUDs are easily accessible?
KEARNEY: Well, part of the package is actually increasing the MBS rebate for a visit to the GP to have IUDs inserted and so that is where the massive saving will be. That is where the $400 to $500 savings will be, and that saving will apply to non-hormonal contraceptives.
IBRAHIM: Right.
KEARNEY: So the cost of the contraceptive will stay the same but is the insertion that is expensive and that is what will be the cost relief in this policy package.
IBRAHIM: But it doesn't address the lack of supply for the non-hormonal IUDs though?
KEARNEY: Well, the pharmaceutical companies have to guarantee supply of the drugs that we are putting on the PBS, the new drugs that are going onto the PBS. But I don't think there's been a supply issue for IUDs, to my knowledge. But the Government has a plan, a very robust plan in place to deal with shortages of medical devices and drugs in this country.
IBRAHIM: Minister, just talking to some of my girlfriends and many of them would say they don't want to take up the IUD, mainly because of the pain, and it's not so much the cost and that they point to is why there's such a low uptake of the IUD.
KEARNEY: Do you know- I think there's a lot of misinformation and disinformation at the moment, particularly on the internet and through Instagram about hormonal IUDs. They are very safe and they are incredibly effective. They have a large uptake right around the world. Australia lags behind in that, and they have been proven to be very effective and part of this package is actually we will be doing some training in centres of excellence to train doctors to have better skills in educating women around the contraceptive choices and in inserting and removing IUDs. I think if you look at the whole package, we'll be able to overcome some of that misinformation. We will have a better skilled health workforce and the whole process will be cheaper. And we expect there to be a greater uptake from women with this particular device.
IBRAHIM: Okay. Well, just staying with the package, the Government has announced- well, it's promising to build a network of endometriosis and pelvic pain clinics around the country. It's great news for women who are suffering from these conditions, of course, but it does seem to hinge on whether Labor does get re-elected in the next federal election. Now, the data on the number of women who are silently suffering from physical pain has been known for some time. So why hasn't Labor addressed this issue a lot earlier instead of just before an election?
KEARNEY: Well, we have invested over $100 million on already establishing 22 endometriosis and pelvic pain clinics right around the country. And these clinics have been incredibly effective. We've had over seven- nearly 7500 presentations, I think, to these clinics. And they are building a centre of excellence, a community of excellence around endometriosis and pelvic pain care, and they have been incredibly successful. So that is why if we are re-elected, we intend to expand that, but not only expand the number of pelvic pain and endometriosis clinics by 11, but we will increase their remit to include menopause and perimenopause care. And I think that would be great news for women right around the country. Many women endure pelvic pain. They get delayed diagnosis. They they're told to suck it up, that women just should suffer pelvic pain or worse, they're not believed at all. So the 11 new clinics that we want to establish in those areas that don't have them already, I think will be great news to Australian women. The package also, of course, includes other PBS listings. If we're talking about menopause, and that is for hormone replacement therapy, the three most commonly used treatments will be put on the PBS from the 1st of March, and that will save women up to $577 a year. This is revolutionary, including menopause and perimenopause in the pelvic pain and endo clinics will be great, and we're going to do a massive campaign to educate women, to educate- to empower women, I should say, about menopause and make life a little easier for them.
IBRAHIM: The question, too, is how will you actually staff this network of clinics? And with particularly given the fact that we've got nurses in New South Wales going on strike last year, we've got hospitals that are over or under staffed. We've got many medical professionals who are feeling the stress. We've got hospitals that are stretched. So where are you going to find the staff to actually be able to carry out this package?
KEARNEY: Well, the beauty of the pelvic pain and endometriosis clinics is that they are established in GP clinics and primary healthcare clinics that already exist. So it's about skilling up the current workforce. It's about building a multidisciplinary workforce. So there's nurse practitioners, physiotherapists, dieticians, psychologists. They employ a range of different people. It's not just doctors and just nurses who are required to treat endometriosis and pelvic pain. So we haven't really had a problem so far in staffing those clinics because they are multidisciplinary, are spread across many professions. They have been very successful and they're in existing primary healthcare facilities. So it's worked incredibly well and doesn't seem to and hasn't drained the workforce away from any other sector.
IBRAHIM: Now, just on in relation to health issues as well. Now, the Finance Minister has told insiders that the Government would be responding to a Senate report this week which recommends expanding abortion access in public hospitals. What's the Government's response to this? How would you actually respond to the recommendations?
KEARNEY: Do you know, since we've been elected, we've taken women's health care incredibly seriously. One of the first things I did was establish the National Women's Health Advisory Council that has been advising us at a federal level on the best way forward. And the primary responsibility for the Federal Government is primary healthcare and what we have done is we have increased access to medical terminations through making the ability to get MS-2 step medical termination pills much easier. So we know that three times more as many GPS are prescribing that and twice as many pharmacists are dispensing that. So we've seen an increase in access to medical terminations and that is primarily the responsibility of the Federal Government and we've seen a great improvement there. On surgical abortions, of course, it is the remit of the states and territories to make sure that their public hospitals provide those services. Some do that in a various way. Some are through public hospitals, some are through a private provider like Marie Stopes that is publicly funded. So there's a variety of ways. So we would continue to encourage the states and territories to make sure those services are available to women when and where they need them.
IBRAHIM: Now, yesterday's by-election in Werribee in your home state of Victoria, of course, Labor has copped a big hit to its primary vote there. What do you think happened there? What's behind the slump in support?
KEARNEY: Well, I'm sure there will be lots of analysis done about the by-elections in Victoria. We are focused wholeheartedly on a federal election, which, as you would know, is coming up very soon. And I think that when we announce policies and packages like we have today that are not performative, that are not lip service, that are actually down to earth, cost of living measures that are going to improve the healthcare of women right across this country, we have a great story to tell coming up to the federal election.
IBRAHIM: Alright, Ged Kearney, Assistant Minister for Health, we thank you so much for your time this morning.
KEARNEY: My pleasure. Thank you.