WA Labor doesn’t deserve a pat on the back for playing catch up with the PATS scheme, which is miles behind several states across Australia.
“WA Labor has gutted the regions since coming to office in 2017, taking billions in royalties while we’ve watched regional health services go backwards,” Shadow Health Minister Libby Mettam said
“This means more and more families are having to travel to Perth to access critical health services, because this government has failed to properly invest in the regions
“A 26 cents per kilometre rate still falls well behind other states at a time when Western Australia is recording record surpluses thanks to the iron ore boom and a GST fix delivered by a Coalition Government.
“We’re a wealthy state – the Cook Labor Government could and must be doing more.”
Regional patients in NSW receive 40 cents per kilometre, in South Australia 32 cents and in Queensland 30 cents.
In 2023, South Australia doubled their PATS fuel reimbursement from 16 cents to 32 cents.
“WA is the largest health jurisdiction in the country – in the middle of our state’s largest boom – it is disgraceful that the best the Cook Labor Government can offer regional Western Australians is 26 cents per kilometre, especially considering the contributions other states make to their PATS schemes,” Ms Mettam said.
Earlier this year, Merome Beard the Member for North West Central and Libby Mettam stood with expecting mothers Tina and Bianca outside King Edward Hospital as they told their stories of how they were out of pocket thousands of dollars because they couldn’t have a baby locally in Carnarvon.
“For years now I’ve been fighting for an increase to the PATS scheme,” Ms Beard said.
“The lack of funding for regional healthcare has left Carnarvon without midwife services, meaning expecting mothers that are travelling to Perth to give birth can be thousands of dollars out of pocket.
“The funding Tina and Bianca were receiving through the PATS scheme was wildly inadequate then and it continues to be wildly inadequate now.
“The Health Minister and WA Labor don’t deserve a pat on the back because they’ve finally come to the table with more funding.
“In fact, regional Western Australians should be outraged that it’s taken this long for Minister Sanderson to finally deliver something.”
Whether it’s a new hospital, midwife services, or the PATS scheme, WA Labor has failed to give back to the communities that have lined our state coffers during their time in government.
“If Roger Cook’s Health Minister and WA Labor got their priorities straight, and focused on services rather than just Metronet, regional Western Australians wouldn’t be waiting until an election before they got the funding they deserve,” Ms Mettam said.
