workforce
program and take on a PhD with them. I had
a young family at the time and had to say:
“I’d love to, but no thank you.”
But eventually I did do that. I took up
a cross-cultural study of women during
childbirth here in Wangaratta and with a
partner site in Sweden. I completed my PhD
in 2012 in Uppsala, travelling backwards
and forwards and doing a lot of work online
late at night and very early in the morning
using Skype and whatever technologies I
could. Following that, I was lucky enough
to win a post-doctoral scholarship and
spent a period studying fathers and the
perinatal period at the Karolinska Institute
in Stockholm. I still go back to Sweden
every year, because I have doctoral
students there.
What did you learn from the Swedes
and their approach to health?
What I’ve learnt from the Scandinavian
countries is that we need to remove some
of the structural [barriers] we have to
optimising health and education. Both those
things fit hand in glove. I tend to talk about
them as almost one and the same.
We need to provide opportunities and
avenues for people to access good health
and education. Some of that comes from
alleviating poverty, from having economic
policies that encourage people from all
backgrounds to participate in society and to
have an opportunity to get the highest level
of education they can.
Free healthcare across the life spectrum is
bread and butter in Sweden. There is some
private health availability now, but essentially
it’s entirely public. That means an equity
policy, which is overall better for population
health. The Scandinavian approach is one of
‘the greater good’, and it dominates public
discourse around health and education.
We too have a universal public health
system. I cherish it. It’s crucial to the overall
wellbeing of Australia. It’s crucial to thriving
communities. I’m a great champion for free
public healthcare and education, because
that’s the ticket to prosperity for everyone.
I know you’ve had some interest in aged
care. What are your observations of the
state of elder care in this country?
People are sometimes surprised – because
a lot of my academic research is at the
other end of the life cycle – but I’m
interested in whole-of-life care, because
every part of it is connected. Families are
comprised of young people, old people
and everything in between. At the moment,
the care of our older Australians is under
the microscope with the royal commission,
and I welcome that, because we’ve all seen
horrifying examples of poor treatment of
our very vulnerable and greatly loved older
family members.
The royal commission is a really important
piece of work. It’s focusing, mostly, on
residential aged care. I’m deeply concerned
about that, like most other Australians are,
but I’m equally concerned that we put aged
care into context of community, and many
older people are not living in residential
aged care. So I’m interested in models of
care in nursing – and in medicine, allied
health and health services more generally
– that can really foster the best possible life
experiences for older people living in the
community, and ensuring that when and if a
transition happens to residential aged care,
that it’s as positive is it can be. So programs
like age-friendly communities, for example,
are really encouraging and a fabulous step
forward in a whole-of-community approach
to seeing old people in and around us, to
ensuring that the environment they live in is
safe, friendly and inclusive.
I’m interested across all aspects of
aged care. I do sit as a board member on
a residential aged care facility. That’s a
fantastic way of having some say on the
quality and type of care the people in that
institution receive. But bigger than that, it’s
about inviting other people in as well. One
of the problems we’ve had with residential
aged care facilities is that they’re a very
closed shop. We only walk through the
doors when we absolutely have to if we’re
visiting a family member or friend. I’d like to
see an Australia where aged care is much
more open than that.
Do you think death literacy and elder
care literacy in Australia is pretty low?
I think that, as a community, we need to be
talking more about the ages and stages of
life, whether that be at the very beginning
and providing the support, encouragement
and loving environment that a pregnant
woman needs, and that young mothers
and fathers need – and I emphasise
fathers as well because they need lots of
encouragement and support.
We all know we’re not going to live
forever, but we’re so bad at dealing with
that. I would like to have many more open
conversations about that as a community, so
it’s not so scary.
This time next year, you are the
independent MP for Indi. The prime
minister comes up to you in the halls
of parliament and says, “Helen, what’s
the most pressing issue regarding
the healthcare system and what can
we do to fix it?”
The first thing I’d say is there’s never just
one pressing issue. Many things contribute
to poor health. It’s about aligning multiple
components and structures. It’s about
economic prosperity that’s inclusive of
all people.
If we want to fix healthcare for the greater
number, we need to ensure that the greater
number of people have equal access to
high-level education training and the
opportunity to get a good job. The one thing
we know about public health is that a key
driver for poor health is poverty, so that’s a
big discussion. It’s the discussion I’d like to
see underpinning policy development in our
parliamentary life. I’d be saying that to the
prime minister. It’s not one simple thing. It’s
many things.
From a rural health perspective, I’d say:
“We need to work closely right across
Australia to have a strategy for rural and
regional Australia.”
At present, we have no strategy. We have
no plan. We have short-term projects. We
have short-term funding rounds, but we
don’t have a long-term plan. That’s what I’d
like to see for rural and regional Australia,
and particularly for rural health. I’d like to
see the infrastructure, then the connectivity
that we need, and the opportunities for
education and access to high-quality health
professionals in order to fix many of the
problems we have in rural Australia.
When a candidate such as yourself
comes in from a specific area, like health
and nursing, it can be difficult for them.
But are you, as an independent, okay
with being a voice for nurses and health
professionals in Canberra?
Absolutely, I am. I’m a champion for
nursing and midwifery. I’m a champion for
healthcare in general. I’m a champion for all
my colleagues I’ve worked with for so many
years – doctors, pharmacists, physios, OTs,
speechies, all of allied health – because we
work collectively as a team.
But as a rural Independent, I’m not a
single-issue person. I stand for reason,
respect, trustworthy behaviour and
thorough, hard work in integrating public
policy with good evidence.
I want to put a lens over public policy
and ask: “How does this impact on people
in rural and regional Australia? How does it
impact on the national good? How does it
impact globally?” ■
agedcareinsite.com.au 33