Tracey Roberts (Pearce, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak about a very welcome advancement in health care for my electorate of Pearce in Western Australia, which is one of the largest and fastest-growing areas in Australia. The member for Hindmarsh, the Minister for Health and Aged Care, the honourable Mark Butler MP, has announced two very important health services being established in Pearce. They are the Edith Cowan University Health Centre to be located in Yanchep and the Medicare urgent care clinic to be located in Clarkson. Both will provide my community with convenient and more affordable health care.

This is a very welcome announcement, and I am very proud to say that I have been advocating for this local service for a number of years. It is a fact that the Edith Cowan University has focused on and realised the importance of health care in our community and has moved into that space. The new ECU Health Centre in Yanchep is a welcome community health service development and it will address the critical need for comprehensive health services. I have to say, as a community, such an announcement has been amazing. The facility will be a joint partnership between the Australian government, the Western Australian state government and Edith Cowan University. The centre will deliver a crucial health service to the community in Yanchep and surrounding areas by providing integrated multidisciplinary health services for the whole community. This will include much-needed access to GPs, nursing and allied health. It will also offer a range of free and low-cost community health and wellbeing programs.

This growth corridor in Pearce is one of the northern suburbs' fastest growing areas. It is something I reiterate and emphasise because it means a lot to the local community. They have been an outer metropolitan area for so long and are growing at such a pace, with 8,000 residents moving into those local areas—eight babies a day! The median age is 35, so you can see the pressures of those areas. Such an announcement is so incredibly well received and very much appreciated.

The community facility I have just spoken about will be located within walking distance of the Yanchep central shopping centre and be serviced by bus routes, so you won't need a car to get there. This has been a well-considered, thoroughly thought-out plan. The ECU Health Centre is anticipated to commence providing services next year, in 2024, with the west centre nearby anticipated to open 2026. I thank Edith Cowan University and Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Professor Cobie Rudd, for her dedication, her commitment and her tenacity in working on this important project along with the Western Australian government. I also thank Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson for her commitment to this project. It is the result of many years of advocacy of local, state and federal governments and private partners working together.

Professor Rudd has said that the project builds on ECU's years of expertise in delivering integrated community based primary health care such as the ECU Health Centre in Wanneroo. The new facilities will create new research, clinical training and work-integrated learning opportunities for ECU students, including those studying health, paramedicine, counselling, psychology, nursing and other students, and is something that the Albanese-Labor government is consistently advocating for in all of our states and territories.

The second important development in health care for Pearce is the establishment of the Ocean Keys Family Practice in Clarkson as a Medicare urgent care clinic to support the northern suburbs community. This is the third provider announcement for Medicare in Western Australia. As part of the 2023-24 May budget, the government has announced additional funding of $358.5 million over five years to support the establishment of 58 Medicare urgent care clinics across Australia. From my perspective in Pearce, I am incredibly proud that we are one of those recipients. It will deliver on the commitment to make it easier for West Australians to get the treatment they need from highly qualified doctors and nurses. It will ease the pressure on hospitals and give Australian families more options to see a healthcare professional when they have an urgent but not life-threatening need for care. The urgent care clinic will be open for extended hours, seven days a week, and will offer walk-in care that is fully bulk-billed, and this is what our community has been asking for—more bulk-billing, more affordable health care—and we, as the Albanese Labor government, are delivering just that.

House adjourned at 20:00

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