Joanna Gash (Gilmore, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The old saying, ‘Good things come to those who wait,’ has never rung more true than in Gilmore recently. After a determined campaign by the general public, the radiology community and our office, the people of Nowra and the South Coast have a Medicare rebated MRI licence. Our thanks go to the Minister for Health and Ageing, Tony Abbott, and his department for listening to the people of Gilmore and following through on a commitment the minister made during a visit to the Shoalhaven in October last year. The minister said then that the Shoalhaven deserved a Medicare rebated MRI service and that, when all conditions were right and the possibility of more licences arose, the Shoalhaven would be at the top of the list of recipients. In July this year the announcement came through: the people of Gilmore and the South Coast were to have their MRI rebated licence.

In the final chapter of the story, the MRI rebate licence has started operating in Nowra at Whistler Radiology. It should have been in a public hospital but, to my dismay, the state government—who constantly complains that the federal government does not do enough—could not get its act together. Just think of the opportunity lost to have an MRI licence in a public hospital operated by a private contractor. How good that would have been for our people in our community of Gilmore. As this service is in Nowra, the people of the Shoalhaven and South Coast will not be forced to travel to Wollongong, Sydney or Canberra to receive a Medicare rebated MRI scan. Obviously the rebate is available only to those with specialist referrals, but the announcement of the licence now operating out of Whistler Radiology is sensational news.

Gilmore and the South Coast boast a very large aged population and many veterans. This announcement of the MRI licence operating means that a significant slice of our community will not be forced to travel large distances for a service that is becoming more and more in demand. My congratulations go to Matthew Swain and his team at Whistler Radiology. Matthew and the Whistler team compiled all the necessary data and other information to justify the application of a Medicare rebated MRI licence in Nowra. I wholly echo Matthew’s words when he said recently, ‘This has been a very good, positive team effort.’ Alas, it should have gone into the public hospital in conjunction with the private operator. Whistler Radiology, the region’s other radiology providers and the community at large put the argument down in black and white. There is a large demand in the Shoalhaven and the South Coast for the service, and the allocation of the licence will now satisfy that demand.

The MRI licence debate raged within the Illawarra and the Shoalhaven for many years, but it is with great pleasure that we can now say the debate over how and when a licence will be delivered to Gilmore has now ended. As we all know, if you are referred to have an MRI scan, that sometimes brings with it bad news. Up to now, that bad news has been delivered to some and then quickly followed by a substantial bill. This rebate will now eliminate the burden of cost for many people referred for an MRI scan. It will allow them to concentrate on their health and not have to worry about the financial impact. The people of the Shoalhaven and the South Coast have had their voices heard, and the Medicare rebated MRI licence is now operating in Nowra. I for one could not be happier for all those who will benefit from the service and those who campaigned so successfully to see it delivered.

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