Damian Hale (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to commend the federal government’s commitment to health in the Northern Territory. The government has allocated $27.8 million to Flinders University to build a dedicated network of hospital and community based medical education facilities to allow a full medical program to be delivered in the Territory. The new facilities will be centred at two sites: the Royal Darwin Hospital and Charles Darwin University. The government will also provide $4.4 million over four years to the Northern Territory government to support increased teaching costs and medical places for local students. These investments are expected to increase the number of graduates who choose to practise in the NT after finishing their medical degree and will help tackle medical workforce shortages and retention issues in the Northern Territory. Construction is expected to begin in 2009-10, with the first student intake to start in 2011.

The budget also provides $18.6 million to build an accommodation complex of 50 units on the grounds of the Royal Darwin Hospital for patients and their carers. This investment will alleviate problems caused by the current shortage of short-term affordable accommodation in Darwin for people from regional and remote areas and the effect this shortage has on access to medical services and discharge form acute-care facilities. It will provide immediate job benefits for local building workers. Construction is expected to begin in January 2010 and be completed in 2011.

More than $34 million will also be invested to build a centre of excellence in Indigenous health and education in Darwin. The aim of the centre is to assist researchers to develop the evidence base needed to drive improvements in Indigenous health. It will also provide an understanding of diseases affecting Indigenous communities, which will translate into better health care.

These projects are supported under the Rudd government’s nation-building Health and Hospitals Fund, which is building health infrastructure for the 21st century while also creating employment opportunities for Darwin. These facilities will be a lasting legacy for the people of my electorate. No longer will people have to go interstate to complete their medical degree, providing the best opportunity to keep local graduates working in the Territory. These are massive investments, including $19 million for an oncology unit and $10 million for a GP superclinic in Palmerston.

The 2009-10 federal budget also delivers a $134 million landmark package of measures to tackle shortages of doctors and health workers in rural and remote communities in Australia. The Rudd government is also providing an additional $7.6 million over three years to support the introduction of a new formula for funding the Division of General Practice network around Australia. We have a fantastic government that is committed to providing improved health care, a fantastic health minister who understands and listens, and fantastic people working across all health delivery sectors in the Territory. (Time expired)