Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Tyrrell for her question and her interest in health and health services in Tasmania. The urgent care clinics are a new model of care which we committed to in the election, and Senator Tyrrell is correct to say that there were three committed to in locations in Tasmania as part of that campaign. The commitments were in Burney, Launceston and Hobart. I understand the Premier of Tasmania has requested that the Burney clinic be in Devonport or the Latrobe region, which was agreed to as well. The very short answer to your question is: yes, they will be delivered. We are working with states and territories on finalising the model, and we'll go through that work, but the money was provided in the budget to deliver on the commitment we made, which was 50 urgent care clinics. Subsequent to making that commitment, New South Wales and Victoria have supplemented and provided funding, I think in the order of $100 million, for clinics in their states, and so we've added in some money on top of the original commitment to work with them to get the model right.

It is an exciting model. I know that here in the ACT it's a different model, but we had nurse-led walk-in centres which provided a bit of the gap between emergency departments and out-of-hours care, particularly for those not needing to head to the hospital. They've been very popular with the local community here, and we think that model can be built upon, but obviously with general practice as key participants.

We will deliver it. We're working with states and territories to refine the model and of course working with general practice across the country to make sure it aligns with their priorities as well.