As the Prime Minister visited the northern part of the electorate on Tuesday morning, independent Indi candidate Helen Haines was in Wangaratta talking about something very close to her heart: rural health.
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As a midwife, Dr Haines has spent a lot of time working at Wangaratta hospital, where she chose to launch her policy.
She has called on the winning side of government to spend $300 million over four years to increase the allied health workforce.
"They're under stress because there is no adequate rural health strategy in Australia and I'm calling on the government, whoever the government may be after May 18th, to address this," she said.
"We need multi-disciplinary teams to address the problems that we have in rural Australia."
The Coalition has invested money in more doctor training to be conducted in regional areas, but the independent claims allied health has missed out.
Dr Haines said this was evident in the area of mental health because rural areas had double the rate of suicides.
"This comes down to the fact there are not enough people on the ground - enough psychologists, enough nurses, enough psychiatrists," she said.
"The Indi electorate is typical of areas across Australia that the further you live from a major town, the less chance you have of accessing the services you need.
"It's why we have wait lists in aged care, it's why we have wait lists in mental health services - because we need those allied health professionals on the ground."
There are not enough people on the ground - enough psychologists, enough nurses, enough psychiatrists.
- Indi election candidate Helen Haines
She also raised a series of other rural health issues including multi-purpose funding relied on in Corryong not being guaranteed, the ":fundamental problems" of a lack of reliable internet to support telehealth services, and the fact that patients at smaller urgent care services like in Benalla have to pay unlike those at hospital emergency departments in bigger areas.
"I'm calling on the state and federal government to address that anomaly and make sure that no matter where you live, that your health is not affected by your postcode," Dr Haines said.
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