Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Lyne for his question. He is right that I had the opportunity to visit the Port Macquarie Base Hospital, in his electorate, on two occasions—first to speak with his local health experts on the needs of their particular hospital. It is a growth region; there are a huge number of people moving there. But it was one of those things that have been left behind in longterm planning. That is not the particular fault of one side of politics or the other in the New South Wales government, but it frankly has not kept pace with the longterm needs of that growth region.

One of the things I was also able to do when I visited the honourable member’s electorate was to announce an allocation of $5 million or thereabouts for, I think, a second linear accelerator, in the Port Macquarie Base Hospital. This doubles the cancer treatment services available to his constituents, given what is currently there. Of course, there is more to be done. That is part and parcel of a much wider program of regional integrated cancer care centres, announced by the Minister for Health and Ageing a month or so ago, which went to some 22 different locations across the country. In fact, Bunbury, in Western Australia, was one of the recipients; Tamworth, I seem to recall, was another recipient; along with other areas right across the country, to improve cancer services in regional areas.

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