Warren Snowdon (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Defence Science and Personnel) Share this | Hansard source

We then made a decision, which I announced last week, to extend the trial to two other communities—Townsville and Darwin. The trial to the initial five will start in May of next year. The trials to Katherine and Darwin will start in the first half of the next financial year. Once these trials have been introduced, they will provide access to free basic medical services and $300 for dental services to 16,000 Defence Force dependants. That is a quarter of the total number of dependants of the Australian Defence Force. As we are informed gradually of the implementation of these trials, we will move subsequently to provide this opportunity to all people across the Defence Force. I make the point that we have made this judgement based on making sure we have proper evidence after our trials and making sure we can—

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