Page 3511 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 18 August 2010
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MR HARGREAVES: Well, look at her go!
MR SPEAKER: Mr Hargreaves, the question.
MR HARGREAVES: Watch the rabbits run!
Members interjecting—
MR SPEAKER: Thank you, members. The question, Mr Hargreaves.
MR HARGREAVES: Thanks very much, Mr Speaker. How good is it, this entertainment.
MR SPEAKER: Mr Hargreaves!
MR HARGREAVES: My question is to the Minister for Health—
Mr Hanson: Is that Colonel Sanders over there?
MR HARGREAVES: and I am not a signed-up member of the Liberal Party.
MR SPEAKER: Mr Hargreaves, the question, or you will sit down.
MR HARGREAVES: And I don’t have as much bling as you do.
MR SPEAKER: Mr Hargreaves!
MR HARGREAVES: Minister, the federal Australian Labor Party have committed up to $15 million for a GP superclinic for the ACT should they win the federal election. Can you please explain to the Assembly how the GP superclinic will benefit our community?
MS GALLAGHER: I thank Mr Hargreaves for the question. The commonwealth government has indeed promised that the ACT will be included in its national network of GP superclinics. This is something that I have been lobbying for for some time, as we missed out on being included in the first round. It means that $15 million has already been allocated for a GP superclinic in the ACT—fantastic news for the territory. It will not solve the GP shortage alone, but it is just another mechanism in government responses to some of the shortages that we are seeing here in the territory, and indeed some of the pressure that existing GPs are under.
The idea of a GP superclinic has, I think, been welcomed by everybody other than the local Liberal Party and some concerns from the AMA nationally, although the AMA here locally and the division of general practice locally, I think, who have a better understanding of just how much pressure GPs are under, are more moderate in their views around this. I think they, and we as a community, once we get through next weekend, need to work out how we can best use this $15 million for very important health infrastructure to address everybody’s needs.
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