Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern Australia) Share this | Hansard source

It is not too late for Senators Fielding and Xenophon and the Greens to strike a blow for the health system in Queensland. I know none of them come from Queensland but I beg of you: understand the situation in Queensland. I want to enter this debate again today to highlight the situation in Townsville. A front-page story in the daily Townsville Bulletin revealed that the Queensland government has a secret plan for what is needed for the hospital in Townsville: a $700 million extension to the public hospital. But the Premier of Queensland, Anna Bligh, went to Townsville last weekend and, with great fanfare, announced that she would be commissioning extensions to the tune of $100 million. That is $600 million less than what is currently needed in Townsville. If this amendment goes through, that situation will be further exacerbated.

Could I just indicate the statistics for the Townsville Hospital. This hospital serves a major provincial city of some 200,000 people. It is a five-year-old hospital. It was built to replace an existing hospital and it has fewer beds than the previous hospital. The corridors of the hospital are now as full as the wards. Patients are actually in beds in the corridors. They are now closing down some administrative rooms in the Townsville Hospital to put beds in. It has been revealed that currently at the Townsville Hospital the total number of overnight beds, day surgery beds, chairs and trolleys is 516. That is what we currently have at this major provincial hospital.

Before the last election Anna Bligh promised 586 beds. So they are 70 beds short of what was promised just a year or so ago by way of an election commitment. But the third statistic is that Townsville Hospital actually requires 918 beds. Currently we have 516 beds. We were promised 586, but we need 918 beds in Townsville Hospital alone. I say to Senators Xenophon and Fielding, imagine what this amendment will do to the Townsville Hospital alone. Forget about the hospitals in Mackay, Cairns, Mount Isa and Brisbane—and I am sure that all the hospitals in Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria, and New South Wales are in the same boat. I can speak from experience of the critical situation in Townsville Hospital, yet this amendment will exacerbate the problems with what is already a crucial and critical hospital system. I see Senator Heffernan is here. Will you be talking about hospitals in New South Wales?