Matt Williams (Hindmarsh, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

A couple of weeks ago I visited the Royal Flying Doctor Service in my electorate with the Minister for Health, Peter Dutton, and we announced a $6 million funding commitment to help with their operations as part of broader Commonwealth funding. This will help to provide telehealth, remote health clinics and 24-hour coverage for emergency aeromedical evacuations. Over the past year in South Australia and Central Australia the RFDS teams have conducted almost 9,000 aeromedical evacuations. They have conducted over 6,000 telehealth consultations using today's modern technology. At a national level they have done likewise, with thousands and thousands of face-to-face consultations and telehealth consultations. With a fleet of 63 aircraft, they are conducting more than 290,000 patient contacts every year—that is someone, somewhere in our country every two minutes—a fantastic achievement.

While supported by the Commonwealth, state and territory governments, RFDS relies heavily on fundraising. Many years ago I raised $30,000 with my wife on a charity bike ride in the picturesque Clare Valley in South Australia. On Saturday night I attended one of their great fundraising events, with over 900 people raising close to $200,000. Congratulations to John Lynch and the rest of the team at the RFDS. We heard earlier from the member for Herbert about the Australian singer Doc Neeson. Kate Ceberano performed on Saturday night, and one of her tracks was Everything's All Right.