Nine-Year-Old Finally Receives Surgery After Private Donation
In a shocking revelation of the inadequacies in regional Australia’s public health system, nine-year-old Kadee Byrnes finally received a routine tonsillectomy after a seven-year wait. This only became possible due to the intervention of Pauline Hanson, who donated the cost of the procedure in the private system.
Kadee’s story is a stark reminder of the struggles faced by children in regional areas. For most of her life, she endured continuous throat infections, causing her to miss so much school that she was advised she might have to repeat the fourth grade.
Pauline Hanson, leader of One Nation, visited Kadee and her family in Rosslyn Bay, Central Queensland, to meet them and announce her donation. Alongside Hanson was One Nation Chief of Staff, James Ashby, who helped break the news to Kadee’s mother, Kahlia.
“Kids in regional Australia are doing it tough,” said Hanson. “The government can find hundreds of thousands of Uber drivers to flood our shores but can’t find a single ear, nose, and throat (ENT) doctor for the Rockhampton Hospital.”
Kadee Byrnes With Pauline Hanson. Photo c/o One Nation.
Queensland Public Health System Failures
The family’s struggle highlights a broader issue of inadequate health services in regional Australia. Kadee was effectively abandoned by the Queensland public health system, left waiting for a simple surgical procedure that should have been addressed years ago.
This situation is a dire reflection of the appalling state of health services in regional Australia. It underscores the urgent need for government action to ensure that no child suffers unnecessarily due to systemic failures in healthcare provision.
Kadee’s relief is a result of Pauline Hanson’s generosity, but her story brings to light a critical issue that demands immediate attention and resolution.
Hanson noted that children are suffering, going through agony, stuck on long waiting lists that politicians who sit in high-rise city offices couldn’t care less about. The treatment of kids in regional and rural Australia is worse than many third world nations.
Australia needs parents and families to stay in regional and rural areas to keep mines open, farms producing, shipping going, and transport routes running.
Long Waiting Lists
Long wait lists, substandard teaching with school staffing shortages, poor infrastructure, and government policies aimed at tearing jobs away from these centres will drive families out of these communities into large, unhealthy and crowded cities. That’s not the Australia we want, nor is it an Australia that is kind.
ENT surgery waiting lists at Rockhampton Hospital can be up to 249 days, the Health Department said.
This must change.
Hospital wait times doubled around Australia, and while Australians suffer, the Federal Labor Government pours money into the unwinnable war in Ukraine.
The government has promised to spend more money on Health and hospitals, but not until mid-2025, according to a report by SBS.
