Health Legislation Amendment (Improved Medicare Integrity and Other Measures) Bill 2025

The majority voted against an amendment to the usual second reading motion, which is "that the bill be read a second time" (parliamentary jargon for agreeing with the main idea of the bill). This amendment was introduced by Victorian Senator Lidia Thorpe (Independent).

Amendment text

At the end of the motion, add ", but the Senate:

(a) notes that:

(i) people are continuing to die preventable deaths in custody due to incarcerated people being denied the right to proper healthcare,

(ii) entrenched and systemic racism throughout corrections and health systems in this country is the greatest barrier to equitable and culturally appropriate interventions and necessitates bold action to improve outcomes for First Peoples in custody,

(iii) the 1991 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (the 'Royal Commission') provided a range of recommendations for addressing systemic racism and improving health outcomes for First Peoples in custody, which remain yet to be implemented,

(iv) building on what families, coroners, Ombudsman reports, Commissioners and First Peoples advocates have called for, for decades, the National Review of First Nations Health Care in Prisons (the 'Review') identified urgent reforms needed to address substandard healthcare in prisons,

(v) recent investigations revealed that at least 57 people died by suicide using known hanging points over the past two decades, despite numerous warnings from coroners to remove these over that time, and

(vi) the Federal Government has obligations under international law, through the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the 'Nelson Mandela Rules'), to ensure people in custodial settings receive equitable healthcare; and

(b) calls on the Government to:

(i) work with States and Territories to:

(A) implement the recommendations of the Review,

(B) establish nationally consistent standards for culturally appropriate, timely and equitable healthcare in custodial settings, in line with the Royal Commission's recommendations, the Review's findings and the Nelson Mandela Rules,

(C) improve access to essential medicines, disability supports, drug and alcohol support, sexual and reproductive healthcare and post-release care,

(D) remove all hanging points in custodial settings as a matter of urgency,

(E) address the widespread neglect of mental health and disability despite high rates of these in incarcerated people, and

(F) ensure First Peoples have access to community-controlled, culturally safe models of care before, during and after incarceration, including access to Medicare-equivalent services; and

(ii) ensure full and independent oversight and accountability for healthcare provision in prisons, including through data transparency, public reporting and enforceable quality standards, and

(iii) ensure that any work to transform custodial health systems is designed, led and governed by First Peoples, including through adequate resourcing of Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations".