Andrew Hastie (Canning, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The City of Mandurah is home to over 80,000 people. It is the heart of Canning. Its population has more than doubled in the last 20 years to become one of the biggest cities in Western Australia, but local services have not kept up with that population growth, and a perfect example is the Peel Health Campus. The Peel Health Campus is the only major hospital in Mandurah and the broader Peel region. It was built in the 1990s and has not changed. It no longer has the capacity to properly service the needs of our community. Our emergency waiting times are too long, the services are inefficient and elderly Australians can't get access to important treatments.

I have spoken with some residents who prefer to travel up to Perth rather than rely on their local hospital, even in emergency situations. I recently met with the family of a World War II veteran who passed away very recently. When he presented at the Peel Health Campus, it was 27 hours before he was admitted from the emergency department to the actual hospital. It had no link to his passing and the family had nothing but praise for the staff at the hospital, but our veterans and our seniors deserve better, and that's why we need more investment in that hospital.

That's what Zak Kirkup, the state member for Dawesville, has been fighting for. On 1 May this year, Zac and I held the Peel health rally opposite the hospital. Over 400 members of the community turned out, many of them seniors, on a cold autumn night to call on the WA government to act. Despite our advocacy, we have heard nothing, so Zac and I decided to increase the pressure. We have campaigned to hold the state government to account, reminding them of how many days have been passed and how long we've been waiting. It's been 140 days and counting. Today the state government has come to the table and acknowledged community concerns. Under the weight of community pressure, the state Minister for Health, Roger Cook, visited Mandurah to announce $5 million for the Peel Health Campus. This is a good start.

The minister has said the money will be spent to upgrade the Peel Health Campus's emergency department, adding eight new short-stay beds and a refurbished waiting room. I welcome that announcement and I'm pleased to see the state government has decided to start listening to the community. However, this announcement should not be given more credit than it deserves. All Labor has committed to is eight new beds in two years time, which is nowhere near enough to address the serious shortage we face in a city of over 80,000 people, especially when 29 per cent of them are over the age of 60, nor does that kind of funding reflect the sort of investment the state government has made elsewhere.

I have spoken before of the additional $189 million invested by the federal government into WA hospitals earlier this year. Of that, $158 million dollars went to the Joondalup Health Campus, $10.6 million went to the Osborne Park Hospital and $23.3 million went to the Royal Perth Hospital. But there nothing for the Peel Health Campus; there was nothing for the Peel region. This money was distributed according to the state government's priorities, and they made it clear that in the Peel region we are not a priority.

But there is more. In their last budget the state government also saw fit to commit $73.3 million to the Geraldton health campus and $46.4 million to the Newman health service. The most they are offering the Mandurah community, after more than 140 days of campaigning, is $5 million for eight beds in two years time. This is a start, but Mandurah's silence can't be bought so easily. My silence won't be bought so easily. The silence of Zak Kirkup, the Liberal member for Dawesville, won't be bought so easily. Along with the community, we won't rest until the Peel Health Campus is properly funded by Western Australian state Labor.