Rick Wilson (O'Connor, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will start today by giving a big shout-out to Isabel Kent and Digby Smith, all the way from the tiny town of Frankland River in the deep south of my electorate, who are here with their grandparents Barrie and Judi.

I'd like to share some great news with the House and with families living with cancer in the Great Southern region of O'Connor. Our fight to bring a radiotherapy machine to Albany is one step closer to reality. In June 2017, this government provided a $6.6 million to GenesisCare for a machine in Albany. GenesisCare already treat cancer patients in the Great Southern, but their patients travel hundreds of kilometres to access radiotherapy. GenesisCare want their machine located in the Albany Health Campus to create synergies with existing diagnostic, surgical, chemotherapy and hospice services. This will cost around $3 million, but building a private facility from scratch would cost almost double and take twice as long.

Together with our health minister, Greg Hunt, I called on the WA Minister for Health, Roger Cook, to meet with GenesisCare and discuss their proposal. In a major breakthrough, Minister Cook finally met GenesisCare on Tuesday and agreed to a feasibility study towards locating this machine at the Albany Health Campus. This is terrific news for people like Mary Williams and her dedicated team of volunteers, who've been raising awareness and funds for the Albany radiation machine for over two years. Our government's funding is making their dream a reality, but there's still a long way to go. Please continue to show your support by signing or sharing the petition to get this machine installed as soon as possible.