Page 3226 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 18 October 2006
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Molonglo 11 was one of the old petrol pump vehicles. This has now been replaced with a new CAFS, that is, compressed air foam, tanker provided to the Molonglo brigade.
I have outlined already the problems associated with the three vehicles, Molonglo 10, Gungahlin 10 and Parks 11, so I will not enter into that again. In relation to the issue of coverage, as I indicated yesterday, Mr Speaker, we had a large number of resources from both the ACT RFS and ACT Fire Brigade on standby around the ACT on that day of total fire ban. Coverage for the area was not compromised because of our ability to stand out resources from other locations.
Tertiary health education
Debate resumed.
MS GALLAGHER (Molonglo—Minister for Health, Minister for Disability and Community Services and Minister for Women) (3.20): I rise to support Ms MacDonald’s motion. I will mention Mr Smyth’s amendments in a moment.
As Ms MacDonald pointed out in her speech, tertiary medical education and the skills shortages we face are ultimately issues for the commonwealth, but the ACT government will do all it can to address the issues in this area. The ACT government has committed funding for the development of infrastructure at the ANU Medical School and other institutions to enable and support the important education and training initiatives outlined by Ms MacDonald. For example, the ANU Medical School building on the Canberra Hospital campus was officially opened on 2 August this year. The ACT government provided $12.1 million in capital funding in the 2004-05 and 2005-06 budgets. The building accommodates the ACT Health library, tutorial rooms, a lecture theatre and teaching areas. The facility also houses academic units, including general practice and surgery, as well as providing the academic units with research space.
The ACT government provided funding of $10 million to the health services annexe for allied health professions at the University of Canberra. This facility is under construction and is due for completion in December 2006. This annexe will house allied health teaching and research, which includes nutrition, pharmacy and physiotherapy.
At Calvary the ACT government provided $1.75 million to refurbish a section of Calvary Hospital to provide third and fourth year medical students with specialised in-house hospital training. This building was opened in May 2006 and, along with the new TCH facility, significantly enhanced the medical school’s ability to recruit, train and retain doctors in the ACT.
Finally, the government has also invested $1 million in the John Curtin Medical School to redevelop this icon of medical research. The research conducted at the school contributes to our capacity to manage and conquer such diseases as diabetes, high blood pressure, HIV, epilepsy and various cancers. This money is a key investment in the future of medical research in the territory.
Mr Speaker, I have already mentioned the capital investment we have put into the ANU Medical School. We are immensely proud of that institution, as I am sure all members of the Assembly are. The ANU Medical School’s first student intake was in
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