The law creating the National Rural Health Commissioner passed on June 21.

The alliance’s chief executive David Butt said the move was “a potential game changer”.

 “The alliance supports the initial focus of the role on establishing the rural generalist pathway for general practice and looks forward to working with the commissioner to ensure this is done effectively.”

He said the alliance was also pleased by changes giving the commissioner “a broader role in providing advice to government on rural health”.

 “Of course we also recognise the need to address the poor health outcomes of people in rural and remote Australia cannot be met by this one position – it requires broad-ranging action across a range of complex factors impacting on the health and wellbeing of people living in rural and remote Australia,” he said.

“It is very important the commissioner not be seen as the answer to all things rural. They should be given the space and capacity to undertake the specific tasks they are required to perform and certainly their existence should not abrogate advancement of other vital health policy initiatives which are best performed by others.

 ”Delegates at the recent National Rural Health Conference identified seven key priority areas for action and these were presented to the Assistant Minister for Health, Dr David Gillespie.

 “First among these was the development of a dedicated national rural health strategy and associated implementation plan – something which requires action by Federal, State and Territory governments in broad consultation with the sector ...” he said.