Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to congratulate the Tweed GP superclinic for their first birthday celebrations, held last Sunday. I was very pleased to join with the community for what was a very exciting and informative event. The open-day celebrations really showcased the array of services that the clinic offers. A year in, the Tweed Health for Everyone Superclinic has expanded so much, and in fact it is an absolutely huge community success.

I would like to acknowledge their outstanding first year of service in providing a real host of allied medical services to our local area. In fact, in the past year, they have treated 50,000 patients, a great achievement for this superclinic. I would particularly like to acknowledge the work of the clinic's main doctors, Dr Di Blankensee, Dr Austin Sterne and Dr Jenni Soden, and also all their staff on this first birthday celebration.

As the local federal Labor member, I was very proud to have delivered the $7 million needed to provide this wonderful medical facility and all the services it brings with it. In fact, prior to the 2010 election, I had announced that, if Labor were re-elected, we would be delivering this superclinic, and indeed we did. It has now been open for a year, and it is fantastic. That is what Labor governments do: we provide health services like this outstanding clinic.

This superclinic succeeds with the support of the community, the great staff and the clinicians who work there. I would like to thank them for the wonderful work they do in our community and also note the fact that it has expanded so much over the last year and it provides such a great array of allied medical services. It is something we are very proud of in our community.