Our ambition is to improve access to health and wellbeing services across the region reaching remote communities.
Rural and remote communities across Queensland continue to face significant shortages in the health care workforce. As a result, local residents have reduced access to timely, high-quality health services compared with those living in major metropolitan centres. This disparity contributes to lower life expectancy and higher rates of illness and chronic disease among regional populations.
The impact is especially profound for older residents, who often require specialist treatment that is only available in larger cities. Accessing such care frequently involves major disruption—long-distance travel, extended stays away from home, and in some cases permanent relocation. These challenges bring considerable financial, emotional, and social burdens, many of which are simply unaffordable or unsustainable for families. This also highlights a growing inequity between those who can afford specialist care and those who cannot.
ABS data confirms that people living in rural and remote areas experience greater disadvantage and are more likely to die younger than their metropolitan counterparts. Queensland Health’s most recent figures show a stark gradient in mortality: the median age of death in rural and remote regions is 75.2 years, compared with 81.7 years in major cities. Despite 38 percent of Queenslanders living in rural, remote, or regional communities, these areas do not receive anything close to an equivalent share of the healthcare workforce.
However, advances in medical technology, innovative models of care, and emerging treatment options offer new opportunities to close this gap. By accelerating the adoption of innovation, rural and regional health services can overcome barriers of distance, improve access, and deliver better outcomes.
Our ambition is to improve health and wellbeing across the Mackay, Isaac, Whitsunday, and surrounding remote communities by supporting investment in health care innovation, initiatives that have the potential to meaningfully enhance quality of life and extend life expectancy for those who call these regions home.