Andrew Hastie (Canning, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Home Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

():  Let me speak plainly. My region's local hospital, the Peel Health Campus, is in crisis, and WA Labor has failed us. Back in 2020, we were promised by the then Labor premier, Mark McGowan, $152 million to upgrade the hospital. That was five years ago. Since then, nothing—no new wards, no new beds, no progress, just spin, delay and excuses. I fought for this upgrade from day 1. I've raised it in parliament—not once, not twice. This will be the sixteenth time I've stood in our national parliament to call on WA Labor to deliver for this hospital. I've stood with doctors, nurses, healthcare workers, patients and families. I've launched petitions, held community meetings and demanded answers—because I know how important this hospital is to the region. But, despite all that, things have only gotten worse. This year alone, ambulances have been ramped outside the Peel Health Campus for over 1,000 hours. That's 1,000 hours of patients waiting for urgent care. It's 1,000 hours of paramedics stuck at hospitals, unable to hand over patients. It's 1,000 hours of lives at risk. It also means fewer ambulances available to react and to get to emergencies in our community.

Now we learn that the cost of the upgrade has blown out to $558 million, more than three times the original budget. That's a $400 million blowout—and still no clear timeline for delivery. This cost blowout is so massive that it threatens to chew through nearly the entire $500 million health infrastructure fund that Labor announced, leaving little for any other hospitals across Western Australia. Now we know the inside story. A leaked letter from a senior Peel Health Campus staff member to the federal health minister revealed the truth—compromised patient care, overwhelmed nurses and a system under strain. Where is our local member?

A division having been called in the House of Representatives—

Sitting suspended from 09:43 to 09:58

I asked the question: where is our local Labor MP for Mandurah, Rhys Williams? He has disappeared into a void of silence on this issue. He's admitted the budget isn't enough, but has done nothing to fight for us. We don't hear his voice. He's silent and WA Labor continue to fail us, so we've had enough and we're going to pursue this money. Labor keeps pointing to the same line in the budget year after year, but money in a spreadsheet means nothing if it doesn't leave the page. So we want action. We're not going to let this government pat themselves on the back, because patients are walking away from the emergency department because they simply can't wait any longer. Our healthcare workers are doing their best, but they're stretched to the breaking point. The fault with this hospital lies solely with WA Labor, who promised an upgrade and haven't delivered. We want action. We want it now. We'll make sure that we deliver accountability.