Geoff Lyons (Bass, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am very much a regional person; I am from the electorate of Bass. For those who do not know, most people in Tasmania actually do not live in a capital city. Tasmania is similar to Queensland in that it has a very dispersed population. I travel around my region a lot, and the way things are developing is fantastic, with irrigation schemes in the north-east and the NBN starting in Scottsdale. I am also very keen on health. The Launceston General Hospital is probably one of the best regional hospitals in Australia. The minister's brother was a registrar there some time ago, so I hope that every time he thinks about hospitals he thinks about the Launceston General and that we are on the agenda and very much the target for whatever needs to be done in health around the country.

Launceston General Hospital is a 300-bed hospital and there has been some fantastic work done there. Going back through the history, things that have been commenced in Launceston include the first anaesthetic for Australia and the first reattachment of an amputated hand in Australia. When I think about some of the great advances that have happened at the Launceston General Hospital I think what a great idea it is to support regional Australia. These are not things that have happened in a capital city. These are regional events, and they have happened because we have had management that has pushed down decisions and allowed individuals to come forward with some great ideas and innovations. It is a fantastic place to be, and the model in Tasmania is a great model for Australia. I look forward to there being three regional areas in Tasmania, three regional local health networks. It is obvious that we should be managing our health services at the lowest possible level, where people have full information. It is a very simple proposal, and I am sure it will be acceptable to and indeed promoted by those opposite. A lot of them are in regions and I am sure that if they came to Launceston they could learn a lot that they could take back to their regions.

The hospital in Launceston has had some magnificent work done in recent times. I remember when I was working there as a business manager I did a sketch on a map of how we could expand the emergency department, and I now see it coming up in concrete—fantastic. I see the cancer centre, where they have three linear accelerators, and I see how they have moved the central sterilising department onto the same level as the operating theatres. When the hospital was built they had to save 15 per cent, and at that time they chopped down the size of rooms by 15 per cent. Most of the rooms then had to be rebuilt because they were not big enough to take equipment in the operating theatre. I am absolutely over the moon about the work that is going on at the Launceston General Hospital not because it is a great edifice, which it is, but because it is going to help the people. I am looking forward to the great work that is going to be continued at the Launceston General Hospital. We also have the university in the top level of a new building, which is going to be fantastic. We need to have some additional level-four work for the university.

I am really looking forward to the minister's answer as to how the budget improves services to regional Australia.

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