Penny Allman-Payne (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Today I rise to speak on behalf of the people of Gladstone around the utter inadequacy of the Queensland health system in our town. Gladstone Hospital is overrun, underfunded and in desperate need of an ICU. The people of Gladstone are sick and tired of being treated as second-class citizens, and Labor must answer for its continued inaction on this issue.

One community member who has reached out to my team and I is Nerinda. She has been waiting for an appointment with an ear, nose and throat specialist for over 10 months. There are no travelling doctors able to provide that service in Gladstone or Rockhampton, and she has now been hospitalised multiple times because she can't get adequate care.

Asheleigh has also spoken to my team. She was in a major car accident. She was flown to Rocky because the ICU in Gladstone has been closed for over 20 years. Yet she has been discharged from hospital after only seven days and is still in need of major care.

Gladstone is a major industrial hub, and we produce billions of dollars for the Australian economy. Its insufficient health care is not only unjust; it puts my community at risk, given the threat of a catastrophic industrial accident. The people of Gladstone deserve to be treated with dignity at a time when they are at their most vulnerable and in need of care where they live. They deserve an ICU at their hospital, and the Greens and I will continue to fight alongside the community until we get one.