Julie Collins (Franklin, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Community Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to talk about some great news from the federal budget—specifically from the health infrastructure fund regional priority round—for the Huon Valley community and particularly for the residents of Cygnet in my electorate. We were allocated $1.2 million for a new purpose-built Cygnet medical centre. I would like to congratulate the Huon Valley Council on its submission. This purpose-built medical centre has been a long time coming. It has taken a couple of years of lobbying, by the council and by me, so I was really thrilled to be able to announce that this purpose-built facility will be coming to Cygnet. The project is an investment in terms of medical facilities in the local community, it will attract health professionals to the area and it will also be a boost to the local economy as the stimulus from the Building the Education Revolution program winds up in that local community. We are also starting work soon on the new Huon trade training centre, which will also be in the Huon Valley.

The residents of Cygnet should be very pleased to be getting this facility. I was taken to have a look at the current medical centre a couple of years ago. It is an old building made of weatherboard and vertical board. There is an older GP there who wants to retire, so it is really good that they are going to have this new purpose-built medical facility. It is building on other investments that the government has made. Since 2007 we have invested quite heavily in the Huon Valley, with the support of the council. I was able to open the Esperance Multipurpose Health Centre refurbishments just a few weeks ago. I also opened the Huon Doctors Surgery refurbishments, funded by the federal government, and the Geeveston and Dover medical centre refurbishments, also funded by the federal government. The council has been working very hard investing in local health services, with the support of the federal government, in delivering wonderful services to the local community there.

The centre will include five consulting rooms, a treatment room, space to accommodate case conferencing and teaching sessions and access for emergency vehicles. It will also provide training facilities for the training of registrars and medical students. It will be a wonderful investment in that local community. We have been lobbying for a long time for this, and I want to give my thanks to Minister Nicola Roxon for her ongoing support for health care in that area and for the funding that came through the priority round of the health infrastructure fund.

Southern Tasmania and my electorate were also able to benefit from the multimillion dollar upgrade of the Royal Hobart Hospital that was also funded. All of Tasmania, but southern Tasmania in particular, including a lot of my local residents, will have access to the rebuilt Royal Hobart Hospital after its $565 million upgrade.