Maria Vamvakinou (Calwell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last Friday, it was my very great pleasure to conduct the sod-turning for the new super clinic that will be built in Broadmeadows by Dianella Community Health. The huge super clinic is a result of a $7 million contribution from the Commonwealth—in fact, from the previous, Labor government. It will be a one-stop medical shop, with doctors, pathologists, a pharmacy, physiotherapists, podiatrists and occupational therapists in house, available for my constituents.

I want to take this opportunity to thank all of my constituents who fought so hard to make this clinic happen. In particular, I thank the Dianella Community Health service and its chief executive Ms Veronica Jamison and board chairman Dr John Hodgson. Veronica, who is our newly appointed CEO, was known for saying that 'it would have been criminal' for the project not to go ahead. As she said on Friday, it was with a sense of joy that Dianella was able to provide this health service to the people of Broadmeadows. Notwithstanding the views that are being expressed at the moment by the current health minister regarding the value of the former government's super clinic program, I want to say that, at least in my electorate, the concept of the super clinic as a model for addressing the shortages and the inadequate availability of health services is absolutely the right approach.

Parts of my electorate—in particular, the suburb of Broadmeadows—constantly show up in statistics as areas of very high need. My electorate is one of the neediest areas in Australia. Things such as chronic heart disease, mental health issues and diabetes are very prevalent in our community. This super clinic will go a long way to addressing a need for adequate, best-practice medical and allied services. I want to thank the former Labor government for giving the Broadmeadows community the $7 million grant and therefore funding the superclinic. This is an opportunity we have been given to have access to medical services that will mean that my constituents will not have to miss out on quality, available health care just because of their postcode.

The issue of inadequate health services in Broadmeadows and the fight to secure them has a very long history. It predates me as the member for Calwell and it goes almost all the way back 30 years when the Broadmeadows community raised some $3 million as its contribution to the building of a hospital that was being considered at the time. Broadmeadows unfortunately lost its bid to secure the hospital. It effectively ended up in another electorate to our north. So, we consider this investment by the former Commonwealth Labor government as righting a wrong and correcting an opportunity that was lost all those years ago. Dianella Community Health Service is probably one of the best organisations to lead and administer this superclinic for Broadmeadows.