Andrew Hastie (Canning, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today, I advocate on behalf of the people of Canning for funding from this government in our struggle against drug and alcohol abuse in our community—specifically, in the fight against ice. In late December of last year, the Canning Ice Action Group, a group of local government, law enforcement, medical and community leaders, met to discuss our local strategy for action. We are united in our support for the proposed Peel Youth Medical Service, or PYMS, health hub in Mandurah. The health hub will be a joint venture between PYMS and Palmerston Association Inc. It will provide a holistic service to young Australians in the 12-to-24 age bracket who are at risk from drug and alcohol abuse and related mental and physical illnesses. Both PYMS and Palmerston are daily engaged in this fight. Palmerston distributes 30,000 needles per month through its needle safety exchange program. PYMS provides 400 consultations per month and is at service capacity.

It is the leadership of Eleanor Britton, Dr Rupert Backhouse and Terry Slomp that helps people to recover control of their lives and future. We have met with the Western Australia Primary Health Alliance several times this year. We seek federal funding for this project and we will continue to lobby until the PYMS vision of a health hub is realised in Mandurah.