Judith Adams (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Today I wish to inform the Senate of an ambitious long-term proposal by an alliance of medical research organisations to develop two major medical research hubs in Western Australia. To establish these centres of research excellence, the state’s premier research institutes—the Western Australian Institute for Medical Research, the Lions Eye Institute and the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research—will combine with researchers from the University of Western Australia as well as smaller specialised research teams and hospital clinicians. This alliance is called the Western Australian Institutes for Health and aims to bring together 24 research organisations, which will perform 95 per cent of medical research in Western Australia. As a former member of the Metropolitan Health Service Board in Perth, I have been closely associated with a number of these research institutes and foundations, and I am delighted that, finally, they have come together to form an alliance instead of competing against one another for funding.

The Western Australian Institutes for Health has put forward a proposal to the Australian government for capital works funding of $100 million over six years to support construction of two state-of-the-art research hubs. This is to be supported by the Western Australian government’s contribution of $130 million. One hub will be built at the Queen Elizabeth II Medical Centre, Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital—a northern site in Nedlands—and one at the Fiona Stanley Hospital campus—a southern site adjacent to the St John of God Hospital at Murdoch.

Despite its physical isolation and relatively small population, Western Australia is home to a large and internationally respected medical research community, boasting over 1,000 researchers, $35 million in National Health and Medical Research Council grants in this year alone and more than $20 million in current grants from international organisations. The strength of the Western Australian research effort is highlighted by the outcomes achieved in recent years. Western Australia has produced two Nobel Prize winners, Professors Barry Marshall and Robin Warren; two Australians of the Year, Professor Fiona Stanley and Professor Fiona Wood; and a Wagner Medal winner, Professor Bruce Robinson.

Western Australia is an international leader in many areas of laboratory based, clinical and public research focussed on stroke and cardiovascular disease, genetic disorders, child health, eye disease, cancer, asthma and mental health. Western Australia is in the midst of a major restructuring of the state’s health system—which I believe is long overdue and an area with which I was closely associated during my serving on the Metropolitan Health Service Board. The Western Australian state government has committed $3.6 billion towards this restructuring plan. The initiative has coincidentally created a unique opportunity to re-engineer the state’s medical research effort and to consolidate and integrate the state’s research activities with the new tertiary hospitals.

It has been established that scientists working together with medical practitioners and other health professionals encourage the vibrant exchange of ideas and the development of new multidisciplinary team approaches to attack major health problems. Collaborative research is essential in underpinning effective preventative strategies for tackling the increase in complex diseases such as mental health, diabetes, obesity, asthma and allergies. The Western Australian Institutes for Health proposal will have 95 per cent of the WA research community working together in a massive aggregation of research power, which will involve the development of research hubs in the two new proposed hospital precincts.

The northern hub—the Queen Elizabeth II Medical Centre Trust—will co-locate the premier research organisations with smaller research teams and clinical researchers from Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, King Edward Memorial Hospital and Princess Margaret Hospital. It will also include the internationally renowned Telethon Institute for Child Health Research building as well as part of the Lions Eye Institute. The centre will include clinical trial facilities, which will encourage engagement with the global pharmaceutical industry, particularly in the Asian region where Western Australia has a geographic advantage through its proximity and being in the same time zone.

The southern hub, known as the Fiona Stanley campus, will bring together academics from the Western Australian Institute for Medical Research, the Lions Eye Institute and the University of Western Australia and clinical researchers from Royal Perth Hospital, Fremantle Hospital and the Royal Perth Hospital rehabilitation facility at Shenton Park. The centre will also incorporate incubator facilities for start-up biotechnology companies. The establishment of these major research complexes will enhance Western Australia’s capabilities to carry out internationally-recognised research and deliver improved health and wealth to the community.

A submission for federal government support to build these new research facilities was lodged in June 2006, with a revised submission lodged in November 2006. In July last year I was successful in putting forward a motion at the Western Australian Liberal Party’s conference, which unanimously supported the proposal by Western Australian Institutes for Health. In fact overall support for the project is very strong, particularly for the research consolidation which will follow from it. The proposal has also received unequivocal support from Nobel Laureate Professor Barry Marshall and former Australians of the Year Professors Fiona Wood and Fiona Stanley.

Twenty-four institutes and foundations have agreed to come under the Western Australian Institutes for Health banner, creating a predominantly whole-of-state approach to the direction of medical research. Once again, I must say just how pleased I am that they have been able to do it. It has taken a long time for them to get together and put aside their own little fiefdoms, but they have done it and I wish them well with this project.

The master plan for both hubs has been completed, the location of the buildings has been defined and the building design has commenced. The business case for the release of funds for the state’s contribution is under current consideration by the Western Australian Department of Treasury and Finance. The timing of these major health reforms gives Western Australia, and indeed the federal government, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to build a critical mass of research excellence spanning biomedical, clinical, population health and health services.

By bringing together the unique population health databases and this newly integrated research capacity, Western Australia will become a model for research translation for Australia and beyond. No other state in Australia—and few places internationally—currently has this set of capabilities for research in action. The Commonwealth has a unique opportunity to facilitate the alignment of the Western Australian medical research activities with the delivery of health care during this period of restructuring.

The medical research community in Western Australia is hopeful that the contribution of matching funding from the Commonwealth will be forthcoming in the May budget and allow this important project to proceed as planned. Design planning has indicated that a total of $437 million is required for this project, which represents the largest investment in health and medical research in Western Australia. The alliance requests $100 million over six years, from 2007 to 2012, to match the total Western Australian state government contribution of $130 million that has been committed specifically for three new research buildings located at the two hubs.

The $100 million sought in federal infrastructure support averages out at very modest amounts on a per institute basis, compared to similar infrastructure/capex funding grants to similar bodies in other states in recent years. Medical research institutes in eastern Australia received over $250 million in infrastructure/capital grants in the 2006-07 budget, with only one Western Australia-based centre receiving a $4 million grant. The funds, if we are successful, will be used to construct buildings, suites for clinical trials and adjacent biotechnology incubators. The federal government has an outstanding commitment to health and medical research, as was demonstrated in the 2006-07 budget, which included $215 million for infrastructure to 17 medical research institutes and $50 million for the John Curtin School of Medical Research. This strong support acknowledges the critical place for medical research in underpinning future health care and the substantial economic benefits to the community of a $5 return for every dollar invested in health and medical research.

The Western Australian government has committed $130 million to this initiative and fundraising for a philanthropic goal of $55 million is well advanced, with donors currently prepared to provide $40 million to $50 million. This is an ambitious program, but one that will have several major outcomes: improved health for Australians via translation of new medical research discoveries by multidisciplinary teams; reduced health costs through development of novel preventive measures, adoption of healthier lifestyles and more efficient delivery of care; and reversal of the brain drain by attracting and retaining the best clinicians and basic health researchers. New jobs will be generated by the expansion of a knowledge based industry. The biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries will be engaged as major partners in large-scale national and international medical research programs and technology development.

There are so many benefits on offer for the medical research community. The two new research hubs will generate a dynamic, internationally recognised research environment supplemented with a critical mass of researchers and state-of-the-art infrastructure. They will build on Western Australia’s unique population-linked health records and cohort studies, which lead the nation’s electronic health records systems. These hubs have the potential to increase Australia’s international contribution to genetics and gene-environment interaction in disease development, treatment and prevention. We will capture and harness intellectual property. No longer will Western Australia’s brightest minds search interstate or overseas for a fulfilling research career; they will have it in their own state.

Western Australia can commercialise research opportunities and, as I have said before, has the chance to attract interest from the international pharmaceutical industry. I will be promoting the proposal by the Western Australian Institutes for Health whenever and wherever I can. I trust that the federal government will continue to lead the way with its commitment to health and medical research and see fit to fund this very important project.