Nicola Roxon (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Health) Share this | Hansard source

I want to add something further in that line. In relation to the MRIs we are particularly keen to know, as the member for Cunningham has indicated, if any decision or preliminary identification of sites has been made for those additional three licences. The minister may be aware that Launceston General Hospital have also been arguing for a long time that they should have an MRI licence. It is a similar sort of situation to the one described by the member for Cunningham, where there is a major hospital that does not have access to this facility.

I have also recently been to Redcliffe Hospital, where they are developing an oncology specialisation as well. One of the things that is stopping that is the absence of an MRI machine licence. People have to travel fairly long distances from the north of Brisbane into town to access those services. Again, all three of these places seem like places that should be given consideration by the government, but we have not had any information from them. I know that many people in those local communities are very interested to know what the government’s plans are. Also, Minister, if decisions have not been made, people want to know the expected time for decisions to be made on those licences.

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