Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am delighted to take this opportunity to inform the people of Tooradin, Blind Bight, Warneet and Cannons Creek in my electorate that a new pharmacy has been approved for Tooradin. This is an act of grace and an outcome which has been brought about through the working decision of the Minister for Health and Ageing, Tony Abbott, and I want to express my thanks to him and his staff and to everybody involved. In particular, what this means for the people of Blind Bight, Cannons Creek, Warneet and Tooradin is that in an area which has not had access to a pharmacy previously, they will have a pharmacy on site. We already have a pharmacist and local resident, Nancy Green, who has been working consistently for a long period now to have this pharmacy put in place and to win the licence for it. That has been a difficult process because we have had to work to create a circumstance where it was acceptable according to the existing rules. We have succeeded.

This is a fantastic small set of communities. It is a rural area with four small communities, in real need of medical and allied health facilities. The pharmacy is not just valuable in itself. It also opens the opportunity to bring a doctor to Tooradin, which will serve Tooradin, Blind Bight, Cannons Creek and Warneet, or the coastal villages. That is a tremendously positive outcome. More than that, it is the result of a concerted set of actions—actions that I am delighted to have been able to have played a small part in. I have worked with Nancy Green, the pharmacist, and her husband, Phillip Green; with Councillor Colin Butler, who is the local representative in that area as a councillor of the City of Casey and also the mayor of the City of Casey. I want to pay tribute to his work. I have also worked with Tony Abbott and his office. I particularly thank Lyn Strachan, my office manager, who has made this a daily cause on which she has worked throughout that time. We are doing our best to work with Tooradin not just for a pharmacy but also for a doctor. So it is about meeting the health needs of that community and the other three small towns in the area. It is all part of providing a long-term future for the coastal villages.

The next step is to work for a marine life centre, which will help with the economic future of these towns. It will be great for the young kids of the area, as they look at the environment and the things that they can do. It will be tremendously important for the long-term identity in future of the coastal villages. It will be an important economic contribution and it will build on the work of having a new pharmacy and, hopefully soon, a doctor for the coastal villages. (Time expired)