Mark Coulton (Parkes, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Hansard source

Last week, one of the most well-respected and loved organisations in Australia celebrated its 95th birthday. The Royal Flying Doctor Service, set up by Reverend John Flynn all those years ago, has grown into a very large and efficient organisation. I would like to touch on the south-east section, which is in my electorate, with bases at Broken Hill and Dubbo. It was during a visit to Broken Hill in 1954 by the late Queen Elizabeth II that the Flying Doctor Service received its royal title. The south-east section delivers about 85,000 cases of care a year. As well as their core work of retrieval, they are now doing a lot of work in primary health. They do dental health. They're doing telehealth. They have started in the last 12 months managing GP services. The Flying Doctor Service is now managing the practices in Gilgandra and Warren.

I'd particularly like to recognise the work that the Royal Flying Doctor Service did during the pandemic. They vaccinated thousands and thousands of people, and I very much appreciate the fact that they actually moved out of their traditional areas of influence up into the northern part of my electorate, to places like Moree and Warialda, and vaccinated people there. Happy birthday, Royal Flying Doctor Service.

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