Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Minister for the Environment) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am delighted to update the House on the progress of the Phillip Island medical hub and to acknowledge the work of some of our citizens within Flinders. The update on the hub is good. This has been a long battle. Obviously, the community was devastated when Warley Hospital was closed, when there was a change in government at federal level in 2008 and both the state and federal Labor governments decided it was not worth supporting. They were wrong then, but I am delighted that that position has been reversed, and we are now on the cusp of having a true medical hub, an integrated hub which can expand over the years to be a full service operation.

There are a number of people to acknowledge, including the Bass Coast Shire Council and, in particular, the Phillip Island Health Action Group: the recently retired president, Jock McKechnie; his secretary, Graeme Cock; all of the members of the Phillip Island Health Action Group; and so many other islanders who have supported it. The status is that there is $2.5 million in federal funding, $2.2 million in state funding and $1.2 million in Warley Trust funding. We will have a new medical hub on Phillip Island, and the final plan and form are within weeks of being agreed, if not sooner.

I am also delighted that my own staff member, Tina McGuffie, has played an extraordinary role as a de facto representative in helping to bring all of this together. It has been a labour of love and passion, and this really is the moment when the medical hub is on its way to becoming a physical reality for islanders who desperately need the support.

By the same token, I want to acknowledge the work of Aline Burgess, the Mornington Peninsula Shire 2016 Citizen of the Year. Aline established the Peninsula Carer Council to support carers. She is the mother of Gary, who is one of 20 residents who have moved into the new affordable housing in Hastings for people with disability and challenges. It has been a great task. She has been a champion, and to see her and all the other carers—and those who care for the carers—acknowledged is an appropriate tribute.

In the same way, I also want to acknowledge the joint Bass Coast Citizens of the Year, Allison O'Halloran and Trish Hogan. Allison, from Daylston, and Trish, from Harmers Haven, really did a fabulous thing. They put together and helped revitalise the Bass Coast Boardriders Club. It was in a pretty perilous situation in 2013. This is about opportunities for young people, it is about safety in the water, it is about recreation, the celebration of life, and it is about the best of our coastal community. Congratulations to them.