HEALTH—TUBERCULOSIS

Senator Boyce, also on behalf of Senator Macdonald, pursuant to notice of motion not objected to as a formal motion, moved general business notice of motion no. 506—That the Senate—

 (a) acknowledges the scale of the tuberculosis threat to Papua New Guinea and the mortality, morbidity and economic and social costs and the risk to Australia if this threat is not managed;

 (b) notes that since 1991, the Torres Strait Islands Treaty has included Commonwealth compensation for the impacts of the care of Papua New Guinea nationals on the Queensland health system;

 (c) condemns both the Federal and Queensland Governments for indicating they will terminate the tuberculosis clinics on Saibai and Boigu Islands which currently provide vital tuberculosis surveillance and clinical care for Papua New Guinea nationals and reduce the risk of the emergence of drug resistant strains of tuberculosis;

 (d) calls on the Federal Government, through the Australian Agency for International Development [AusAID], to immediately provide long-term funding to clinics to protect Torres Strait Islander Australians; and

 (e) calls on the Minister for Health and Ageing (Ms Roxon) to consult with frontline public health experts to formulate a long-term strategy which ensures that Papua New Guinea programs and Torres Strait Islands clinics deliver a combination of disease surveillance and tuberculosis care for Papua New Guineans and Torres Strait Islander Australians.

Question put and passed.