Paul Scarr (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to pay tribute to the Rotary Club of Archerfield for its successful delivery of another container of medical equipment to our Pacific family—in this case, to Nadi Hospital in Fiji. Now, this successful delivery of a container of medical equipment, which included beds and very technical medical equipment such as ultrasound machines, is part of an ongoing program in the northern region of Rotary in Australia, referred to as the Rotary Australia Repurposing Equipment initiative, which has been undertaken since 1 July 1990. So, for 33 years, Rotary members across the north of Australia have been consolidating medical equipment and medical supplies which are beyond their useful date in an Australian context and delivering them to our Pacific family.

Just consider these figures in terms of the number of containers, and we're talking large containers, that have been delivered in the course of those 33 years: 730 containers to Papua New Guinea, 156 containers to Solomon Islands, 61 to Fiji and 127 to other destinations. The total number of containers is 1,074, representing $61.9 million of medical equipment and supplies, including 9,227 hospital beds, 500 patient trolleys, 4,211 wheelchairs, 6,027 mattresses, 21,480 hospital linen bags—and the list goes on.

Congratulations to all the members of Archerfield Rotary and to all Rotary members who have been involved in this outstanding project. From my perspective, when we look around the world in these dark times, you represent the very best of Australian values.