John Cobb (Calare, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to show my full support for a newly launched mobile breast-screening unit in my electorate of Calare in western New South Wales. Thanks to a $13 million dollar investment by the Commonwealth and the state government, women in rural and remote areas of New South Wales will now have access to a state-of-the-art screening service, 20 years after this service began. BreastScreen New South Wales, along with the Greater Western and Western New South Wales local health districts, will coordinate this new service, touring many areas in my electorate including Parkes, Forbes, Tullamore, Trundle, Peak Hill and Molong. The new facility includes upgraded digital mammography equipment and wireless communication for instant transfer of diagnostic images to doctors—whether they are in Orange, Sydney or wherever it might be. For women in these rural areas, attending a mobile unit reduces travel time significantly. This is huge for Aboriginal other and rural and isolated people and also for people in any small town anywhere, because it means they do not have to travel to Orange or a big centre. The timing is very good, as the Commonwealth government now has $55 million going towards informing women from the ages to 50 to 74 of the need to have a mammography so that they can be instantly diagnosed wherever they get it done.