17 Jul Tinkering around the edges won’t save lives – Remote patients’ continued neglect

The Katter’s Australian Party (KAP) Leader and Member for Traeger, Robbie Katter has today welcomed minor adjustments to the Patient Travel Subsidy Scheme but has lashed out saying that people are choosing to die in their community rather than undertake unaffordable travel to major centres.

In the January to March 2024 quarter, 50% of all Voluntary Assisted Dying deaths were in regional, rural, or remote parts of the state.

“It’s absolutely gut wrenching to see people in pain and at their wit’s end coming to my office, or when I’m out and about, saying that they can’t afford to go to Townsville or Brisbane for care that they need, and that they’d prefer to die at home among family and friends,” the member for Traeger said.

“While I welcome the change in policy, long called for by the KAP, that means patients don’t have to fund four days on their own, it’s really just tinkering around the edges,” he said.

The scheme has raised the nightly accommodation allowance to $70 per night and the kilometre allowance to 34c per kilometre.

“You try and go find a room in Townsville that only costs $70 – and don’t even bother in Brisbane!” the KAP leader said.

“And the Queensland government are trying to come off as generous by raising the travel by 4c to 34c per kilometre – well the ATO’s guidelines say it should be 88c per kilometre.

“The Brisbane Labor government and LNP opposition are both fundamentally out of touch with North Queensland and the tyranny of distance we often face,” the member for Traeger said.

As the real opposition in North Queensland, the KAP have campaigned for doubling of the rates, with mileage rising to at least 60 cents per kilometre and the overnight accommodation subsidy to $120.

“We don’t expect fully equipped facilities in every town across the North West, however we do demand equitable access to the places where those facilities do exist,” Mr Katter said.

“More and more we are seeing our rural towns and centres being white-anted out, with specialist services only offered in larger cities.  Travel is a necessity to access the right and proper care.

“North Queenslanders shouldn’t be fooled, the government in Brisbane are not being extra generous with these changes – they are heartlessly forcing patients to choose between voluntary assisted dying and spending money they don’t have to get the proper care, thousands of kilometres away.

“We deserve better,” the KAP leader said.

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