Ian Goodenough (Moore, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Health services in our community continue to be under pressure, with long waiting times for patients at our local hospital regularly exceeding the government's benchmark.

During my term in parliament, I'm proud to have delivered $158 million in federal funding towards the current expansion of Joondalup Health Campus, which is under construction. The multilevel car park was completed last October, while a long-awaited 102-bed mental health facility, costing $65 million, is about to open. Through ongoing advocacy, I'm pleased to inform the House that Ramsay Health Care has recently announced a private investment of $77 million to expand surgical services. Planning approval has been secured for a new seven-storey day surgery building.

However, population growth in our northern coastal suburbs continues to place further strain on our already overstretched hospital. Ambulances spent more than 5,000 hours waiting outside our hospitals across Western Australia last month—five times what Premier Roger Cook described as a 'horror story' when in opposition. At our hospital, I have heard concerns of local paramedics and patients about the long waiting times and unacceptable levels of ambulance ramping. Last month, in May, ambulance ramping at Joondalup reached over 500 hours, and reached a peak of over 1,000 hours last year. With more than 70,000 residents moving into our coastal suburbs by 2030, the Labor government must commit to a new hospital in Yanchep to alleviate the pressure on our hospital.

In addition, my constituents are concerned with Labor's broken promise to deliver an urgent care clinic in Joondalup within the first 12 months of government. After my calls for the Labor government to honour its promise, we have finally learned that the urgent care clinic destined for Joondalup is to be built in Clarkson, which is in the electorate of Pearce, and not even within the City of Joondalup's boundaries.

The Prime Minister and his Canberra based bureaucrats clearly have little idea about Western Australia and our needs. The people of Moore deserve better health care as a matter of priority. Instead, the Albanese government spends over $364 million on a referendum.