Kate Chaney (Curtin, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

In Curtin, hospitals and higher education are two of our largest employers, creating a hotbed of health and medical research, innovation and commercialisation in the suburb of Nedlands. We have so much potential to lead the world in creating and commercialising lifesaving medical solutions. Nedlands has three current and two proposed hospitals, six medical research institutes, a centre for early phase clinical trials and is the home of the University of Western Australia.

In recent weeks I've had the opportunity to meet some of the incredible organisations in Nedlands doing this work. For example, the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research is building a comprehensive atlas of the cell types that make up cancer tumours, and the Parent Institute is undertaking cutting-edge research on a broad range of neurological conditions. And it's not just research: UWA has partnered with the Harry Perkins institute to support pathways into burgeoning local med-tech start-ups. Last week, the Minister for Industry and Science, Ed Husic, and I visited OncoRes Medical to hear how they're manufacturing equipment to help surgeons remove all of the cancer the first time.

But WA is seriously under-represented in NHMRC funding, with applicants three times as likely to be successful in Victoria as in WA. The innovation happening in the suburbs of Perth deserves national recognition. This is also the perfect opportunity for support under the medical science priority area of the National Reconstruction Fund to build on this strength and support this innovation ecosystem.

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