Media Conference - Dr Kerryn Phelps, AMA President, Junction Youth Health Service, Canberra

Now, it's very important that we have the opportunity to launch this document and discuss some of the issues relating to adolescent health. There are some very important priority issues which we will be taking to Commonwealth and State Governments, and we want to see some action on policy. The sort of areas that we want to see action in are greater representation for younger people in issues to do with their health, we need to see some better infrastructure for youth health, and we want to see the health of young people seen as a specialised area. At the moment, it falls somewhere between child health and adult health, and there needs to be a focus on adolescent health as a very special area of the health agenda.

We want to see improved access to general practice and specialist treatment for young people, so that young people, particularly those who are disadvantaged and at risk, are not kept away from health services which they should be able to access in their own right, and we also want to see Medicare cards being supplied to young people at the age of 15, automatically, so that they can have such to health care when they need confidential treatment. I'd like to introduce you to Georgie Ferrari, who'd like to say a few words.

FERRARI: Thank you. The New South Wales Association for Adolescent Health is delighted to be here with the AMA to launch this document. We fully support the recommendations that are made and we commend the AMA on the process that they went through in the development of this document which involved a widespread consultation in the Youth Health Summit which we attended, and also sending out the document in draft form for consultation, further.

So it's not just the AMA's document, if I can be so bold. It's to say it's actually the whole of community and not just in New South Wales or the ACT - it's right across Australia. And we're very proud and honoured to be here to also launch the document with you. A couple of the areas that I want to pick up on and emphasise, as Kerryn has already done, is the reinstating of the National Youth Peak body for Australia which we see as a key recommendation in this document.

The issuing, automatically, of Medicare cards at age 15, which we think will increase access to health care for young people, we see that as a crucial issue. And also the Relative Value Study that will let us explore the value of young people spending more time with their GPs to develop a relationship; to build trust that will only lead to a better health outcome for those young people, if they develop that relationship with their GP who's going to be their first point of call, most often.

We also call for an increased level of funding for youth health services that exist right throughout the country. These services are suffering under a lack of increased funding that has been going on for ten years, and some of them face mounting debts, and it makes the operation very difficult. So we're very happy to be here. Thank you.

JOURNALIST: When the federal government announces their election day, is that when the campaigning will really step up a gear?

PHELPS: We're really pre-empting the election campaign. I think that this is an issue that should transcend party politics. We would like to see both sides of government looking at this very seriously as an issue that they have some bipartisan support for. However, whichever party comes up with the goods on youth health will certainly have the support of people who are, I think, very intimately involved with the health issues to do with our young people. And that is all of the youth health services, the doctors, the nurses, and the parents of this country.

I believe that health is the major election item for this next coming election, but I believe that youth health is going to be one of the real priority areas. We have a number of risk groups, we have people who have problems with drug and alcohol abuse, we have young people who are the victims of domestic violence or sexual abuse, we have young people who are coming to terms with their sexuality, with social problems, with social disadvantage, and these are the young people who need to be specifically targeted with programs and the adequate funding and infrastructure to go with these programs.

It's no good to just mouth the words, and say that people support youth policy. But we have to have government commitment to go with that, and that takes funding and infrastructure and political will. And I'd actually like to see a separate youth health portfolio set up that really specifically looked at youth health as an area that deserved attention in its own right, because it's by investing in the future of our young people and in their health that we're going to see real progress into the next generation.

JOURNALIST: What would you say is adequate funding for youth health?

PHELPS: I think we can say, right now, it's inadequate. And there is so much unmet need, it's a little bit difficult to say exactly how much is needed. But there's no question that there is a great deal of unmet need, now. And if you just look at, for example, the area of adolescent mental health, it's pitiful, the amount of funding applied to that area. Now, this is where we can really make a difference to young people's lives. Thank you all very much.

Ends