Report from Australia


 4

Editorial 
 

REPORT FROM AUSTRALIA 
 

Desley Hegney 
Editorial Board Member 

 
 

I have just returned from the 5th International Rural and Remote Area Nurses 
Conference, which was organised through the ICN Rural and Remote Nurses 
Network.  Held in Albury, Australia, from the 4th to the 6th March, approximately 90 
nurses attended from Japan, Thailand, Canada, USA, New Zealand, and Australia.  
There were four keynote speakers—three from Australia and Dr. Judith Kulig from 
Canada.  The concurrent sessions saw 51 papers presented.  In addition, two symposia 
were presented, both by delegates from the USA and both focusing on disaster 
management.  Without the work of the Australian Rural Nurses and Midwives 
(ARNM) Association, the conference would not have been the success it was.  We 
were also grateful for the work of the Conference Organising Committee in Australia 
and the Abstract Committee located in the USA. 

The major theme arising from the conference was one of celebration of the 
work of rural nurses.  From the student to the nurse practitioner, it was apparent that 
much was being done to ensure that rural nurses are prepared adequately for practice 
and, once in practice, will have the access they need to remain competent. 

Following this conference, I attended (also in Albury) the 9th National Rural 
Health Conference.  There were approximately 1200 delegates, and of these about 250 
were students (nurses, medicine, allied health).  The conference theme was ‘Standing 
up for rural health: learning from the past, action for the future.’  At this conference, 
delegates were asked to generate recommendations.  These recommendations will be 
taken to the Council of the National Rural Health Alliance, where decisions will then 
be made by the member bodies.  If accepted, the recommendations will form the basis 
of the Alliance’s work for the next biennium. 

There was a large focus on climate change and the drought.  Images of rural 
people using their resilience to overcome adversity were abundant.  Many health 
professionals’ papers focused on innovative programs that aimed to increase both the 
range and reach of available health services to all sectors of the rural community. 

Despite this year being an election year (we are to elect an Australian Federal 
government in 2007), representatives of both parties (Liberal and Labour) outlined 
how they saw the health of rural Australians.  Of interest was the policy of the 
Australian Labour Party to increase funds spent on health promotion and prevention.  
If this occurred, there would be a major policy and expenditure shift.   

From a personal perspective, it was wonderful to catch up with old colleagues 
(and like me, most were older) and make new networks. 

Online Journal of Rural Nursing and Health Care, vol. 7, no. 1, Spring 2007