After cautiously welcoming news earlier this week that an agreement had been reached at COAG on access to dialysis services in central Australia, the Australian Greens are now disappointed to learn that nothing new is on offer and the situation has not markedly improved.

"Frankly, there is much less than meets the eye to the announcement by the Northern Territory Chief Minister, Paul Henderson," said Senator Rachel Siewert today.

"Nothing new was agreed to at COAG and there is no real improvement in the support available to Aboriginal people in the border regions of WA and SA with chronic kidney disease."

"The states and territories have proved themselves unable to resolve this issue and there remain strong grounds for the Commonwealth to step in to ensure that all Australians can access the nearest essential health care services in times of need."

"Let us remember that the new Gap Road dialysis facility in Alice Springs was built with Commonwealth funds," said Senator Siewert.

"It was disingenuous of the NT Health Minister to describe it as a Northern Territory facility."

"Meanwhile, as the states and territories squabble over who should pay what to whom, this federally-funded facility remains underused, and patients are still being sent to Adelaide or Perth for treatment."

The announcement of a major new agreement by the NT Chief Minister was met with puzzled silence by the SA and WA governments, who did not seem to be aware of any meetings taking place on the issue at COAG or any new agreement being negotiated.

It appears Chief Minister Henderson was referring to earlier tri-state negotiations concluded more than a month ago. Those negotiations produced a draft Agreement that has already been dismissed by health advocates and community organisations as woefully inadequate.

"The ball is now in Kevin Rudd's court - if he wants to convince Australians that he is capable of sorting our health system and taking control from the states, then clearly he must step in to resolve an inter-state squabble over a federally-funded facility," concluded Senator Siewert.

Media Contact: Chris Redman - 0418 401 180