Senator Barry O’Sullivan has welcomed last week’s announcement from Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, that the federal government was providing $84 million extra in Royal Flying Doctor Service funding.
It means the aero-medical retrieval service will for the first time establish a mental health outreach clinic, which will see more psychologists and mental health nurses on the ground.
It will also boost access to dental care services for those living in rural and remote communities, and eliminate the threat of a reduction or cessation in outreach clinics, made when the government cut RFDS funding by $11m as part of a budget saving measure.
The resulting possibility of a cut in services saw Mr O’Sullivan go on the warpath in February but he said this week the latest funding announcement showed the federal government “understood the need to genuinely dedicate resources towards improving bush services”.
“Liveability in rural and remote Australia is of paramount importance to making it an option for young people and families,” he said. “I took up this fight to increase funding for the RFDS because I believe it is an absolutely essential service.”
Mr O’Sullivan had been campaigning for $17m in additional funds for the RFDS in the upcoming budget, both to restore the $11m funding shortfall and to permanently guarantee the $6m made available for two years to cover RFDS dental clinics, which was due to run out at the end of the 2017-18 financial year.
He spent the past month walking the halls of Parliament in Canberra, meeting with a number of ministers, armed with spreadsheets of RFDS funding history and carrying a message of the difference between funding important projects and what he described as “essential and vital” services.
Mr O’Sullivan said the RFDS was a true Australian institution and very close to his heart.
According to MP David Littleproud’s office, funding for dental outreach services in areas of most need will be extended beyond 2019, and a new mental health outreach clinic program will be in operation by January 1, 2019.
It said the government was also increasing its contribution to stand-by arrangements for RFDS bases to ensure access to ambulance services.
Six RFDS operational sections will directly benefit from the new funding: Queensland Operations, South East Section (NSW), Central Operations (SA and south of Tennant Creek), Western Operations, RFDS Victorian Section and the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Tasmania.