Campaign Media Release FEDERAL MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGEING FEDERAL MEMBER FOR BRADDON FEDERAL LABOR WILL DELIVER RADIOTHERAPY SERVICES IN BURNIE A re-elected Gillard Government will provide up to $16.5 million to deliver radiotherapy services in Burnie. This investment will fund the construction of a bunker and installation of a linear accelerator at the North West Regional Cancer Centre in Burnie. Federal Labor’s investment will enable the construction of this infrastructure to be fast-tracked. In partnership with the Tasmanian Government, a re-elected Gillard Labor Government will also establish a clinical experts panel to provide advice on the timeline for delivering radiotherapy services in Burnie. The panel will be led by an eminent radiation oncologist. Mr Royce Fairbrother, a local cancer sufferer and survivor, will provide community input to the panel. It is time to take the politics out of this issue. The Tasmanian Government has agreed to bring this new service on-line as soon as it is safe and sustainable to do so. The Tasmanian Government has previously advised against building radiotherapy services in Burnie until services in Launceston were expanded to provide a hub from which to support radiotherapy in the North West. However, this service is now included in the State’s cancer plan.
Federal Labor stands ready to provide assistance to the North West Regional Hospital to deliver these services. Federal Labor will also maintain its commitment to provide a third additional linear accelerator at the W P Holman Clinic in Launceston, which will provide a ‘hub’ to support the expansion of radiotherapy in the North West. In contrast, Tony Abbott’s promise is a fraud: It will not provide sufficient funding to provide radiotherapy in Burnie – his commitment would only provide funding for a linear accelerator, but not for the bunker needed to house it It is not deliverable in 2013 as he has promised. Tony Abbott had four years as Health Minister to deliver a cancer service to Braddon – and he failed. Funding for this commitment is provided for in the Budget in the Government’s Regional Cancer Centre program. Federal Labor will reconvene the Board of the Health and Hospitals Fund within a month if it is re-elected to consider the Tasmanian Government’s submission on funding for these services. Federal Labor’s record on delivering better cancer services to North West Tasmania is clear – we have already provided: $4.78 million to establish a new cancer care centre at the North West Regional Hospital; The centre will include a patient support centre and a new chemotherapy treatment service, with 12 chemotherapy treatment chairs. $1 million dollars will also go towards the purchase of a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) unit for the Centre; When fully operational this new facility at Burnie will provide an estimated extra 6,000 chemotherapy treatments per year. The Gillard Labor Government wants to invest in health services in communities like Burnie. Tony Abbott would take us backwards on health. Tony Abbott just does not have the judgement to be Prime Minister.
BURNIE 12 AUGUST 2010 COMMUNICATIONS UNIT: Phone: (02) 9384 2220 | Fax: (02) 9264 2213 www.alp.org.au AUTHORISED N.MARTIN for the ALP, 5/9 Sydney Ave. Barton ACT.