Peter Georgiou (WA, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Hansard source

Right now, there are more than 30,000 people in Kalgoorlie-Boulder who have to travel to Perth by car, bus, train or plane in order to get an MRI scan. If you don't already know, that's a 600-kilometre journey, one way, just to get a scan. I wonder how many of you in here have had to travel that far to get an MRI. Travelling that far often costs hundreds of dollars, especially when you take overnight accommodation into account.

Thankfully, after months and months of significant lobbying by One Nation, Kalgoorlie hospital was granted a Medicare licence for an MRI machine in June. It was the first licence to have been issued in years. The WA state Labor government has already set aside $3 million to buy the machine and install it at Kalgoorlie regional health campus. But guess what? The state Labor government is now saying it will take up to two years before the machine is installed. How is that saving lives? What's more frightening is that from next month older Australians will be denied Medicare rebates for a GP-ordered MRI. By 'older Australians' I mean those who are 50 and over and need a scan for their knees. That's at least 80 per cent of you in this chamber. We wouldn't have this issue if the government provided more MRI licences to independent imaging clinics which aren't part of the duopoly. There are about two chains which run the shop when it comes to scans, and quite often they are using old or outdated equipment. Some of the independent imaging clinics have far superior, newer equipment which can home in on cancers and tumours that the scanners the multinationals use have failed to detect. I know this because I have seen it with my own eyes.

In my home state of Western Australia there's been significant investment in two hospitals—the Fiona Stanley Hospital and the new Perth Children's Hospital. A lot of money has been spent on both, but the Children's Hospital has had its fair share of troubles. It was over budget before it opened, and who can forget the scandal which saw lead leaching into the water supply?

Despite this new investment in tertiary and children's hospitals, doctors have warned of increasing waiting times at Perth hospitals and a growing waiting list for elective surgeries, which are putting the public health system under strain. Then you have more and more people cancelling their private health insurance, which is putting the public health system under further strain. Even emergency departments are struggling to admit or discharge patients within the four-hour target.

There is no doubt in my mind that the health system in Australia was once the envy of many other nations. However, it is quickly losing its much-respected ranking. The government of the day must apply a fair and meaningful approach to ensure all Australians are looked after to the extent that all of us in this chamber expect.